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Akeelah And The Bee

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Akeelah and the Bee film


Plot[]

Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) attends Crenshaw Middle School, a predominantly black school in South Los Angeles. Akeelah is a bright 11-year-old and never makes errors on her spelling tests and doesn't really seem to fit in. She lives with her widowed mother, Tanya (Angela Bassett), her three siblings Kiana, Devon, and Terrence (Erica Hubbard, Lee Thompson Young, and Julito McCullum), and her infant niece. Her principal , Mr. Welch and her teacher, Mrs. Cross, recommend her to sign up for the Crenshaw Schoolwide Spelling Bee, which she wins easily by spelling "fanciful". After that, Dr. Joshua Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), a visiting English professor and Mr. Welch's college friend, tests her with some difficult words and finds that she has the potential to reach the National Spelling Bee, even though she misspells "pulchritude".

When Akeelah asks Dr. Larabee to coach her, he rejects her because she's rude to him. Instead, she studies on her own for the district spelling bee. During the bee, her sister Kiana catches one of the other contestants cheating, disqualifying him. This saves Akeelah to take the tenth and final qualifying spot for the regional/state bee by spelling "pastiche", despite spelling the pervious word wrong. She also meets and befriends Javier Mendez (J.R. Villarreal), a 12-year-old Mexican-American boy and fellow speller who has a crush on her. Their friendship started when he helped Akeelah pin her number on her shirt, saying that he won't "impale her". Javier invites her to join the spelling club at his Woodland Hills middle school.

In Woodland Hills, Akeelah meets Dylan Chu (Sean Michael Afable), a Chinese American boy who had won second place at the past two national spelling bees. He is contemptuous of her — as well as the other members of the spelling club — and asks her to spell "xanthosis"*. When she starts with a "z", he tells her she needs a coach.

At the conclusion of the spelling club meeting, Javier invites Akeelah to his birthday party, where she has her first kiss with him; Javier plays it off by saying he only kissed her out of impulse, and jokingly asks if she plans to sue him forsexual harassment. Dylan plays Scrabble with Akeelah and several other guests. Akeelah almost defeats Dylan, but loses by just two points. She later overhears Dylan's father (Tzi Ma) reprimanding him for nearly losing to "a little black girl" and insisting he must win first place.

Tanya, still depressed at her husband's death and concerned for her daughter's grades and frequent truancy after finding out that Akeelah has been going to Woodland Hills by herself, forbids her from participating in the state bee and forces her to take summer school to make up for all her skipped classes. To prevent prohibition, Akeelah forges her father's signature on the consent form.

During the state bee, Tanya comes inside and interrupts her daughter before she can spell her word. Tanya chastises Akeelah for going to the bee without her permission but relents after a side discussion with Dr. Larabee and Mr. Welch. Javier protects Akeelah from disqualification by stalling until she can return. Dylan, Javier and Akeelah advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

As Christmas approaches, Akeelah goes out to buy Dr. Larabee a present, but when she meets him, he reveals that he is quitting being her coach because she reminds him of his deceased daughter, Denise; she died of an unexpected terminal illness when she was younger than Akeelah. Instead, Dr. Larabee gives Akeelah 5,000 flashcards to study. Without her coach, rejected by her best friend Georgia, and feeling the pressure from her neighborhood residents to make them proud, Akeelah loses her motivation. However, Tanya tells her that if she looked around her, she would realize that she has "50,000 coaches". Akeelah recruits her family members, classmates, teachers, friends, and neighbors to prepare in earnest. After reuniting with Dr. Larabee, Akeelah goes to Washington, D.C., with him, along with Tanya, Georgia, Mr. Welch, and Devon, unaware that her coach has paid for four of their tickets. Georgia rekindles her friendship with Akeelah after she invites her.

During the competition, Akeelah becomes a crowd favorite. Once all of the other contestants get out, there are only two left, the two being Dylan and Akeelah. The two finalists are allowed a break, during which Akeelah overhears Dylan's father harshly pressuring him to win, so Akeelah attempts to intentionally lose. Dylan, fed up with his father's competitiveness, intentionally misspells the word as well. Dylan tells Akeelah that he wants a fair competition. The two then proceed to spell every word listed by the judges until the two are declared co-champions. After Akeelah spells "pulchritude" (the same word she misspelled at the start of the film), she is officially declared a winner.

Cast[]

Three hundred girls auditioned for the role of Akeelah in Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta,with Palmer having auditioned five times to get the part. Atchison liked Palmer's acting, but the major factor in choosing her was the fact that at only age ten Palmer already had a profound interpretation of the script. He chose her as he did not want a kid whom he would command but instead someone with whom he could have a collaboration: someone who would understand the role and "would make this character her own."He just assisted her to fully ensure that she would understand the character's feelings and would make "the right emotional choices."
Fishburne was pleased by the concept of the film, stating he was "really moved by it", so that he accepted to take his part "at an affordable rate", according to producer Michael Romersa. He first read the script in 2002 and moved by the fact that "there were very few people with the courage" to "make this kind of movie" he also accepted to be a producer for the film. About the character, Atchison said that Larabee is "vulnerable" and "a very sensitive guy" that has "a quiet moral authority". He also asserted that Fishburne made Larabee "a fairly buttoned-up, stoic type" and "subtly more animated" than how he envisioned the character. Larabee is based upon a teacher, Robert Larabell, Atchison had in Phoenix, Arizona.
Bassett's agent sent her the script which she "just loved." Atchison praised Bassett's portrayal of the character, asserting she "made Tanya a real person" after understanding "the thought process of the character". The director said Tanya wants the best for Akeelah but is reticent because she thinks "the dream will fail and make things worse." Bassett stressed that her character has to handle the pain of her husband's death in addition to having bills paid but that Tanya "gain[s] some measure of courage herself" inspired by Akeelah.
Atchison pointed Armstrong "was the perfect choice for the school principal." About his character role in the film, he said, "Welch is very excitable and provides a lot of the comic relief in our story."
  • J.R. Villarreal as Javier Mendez:
Villarreal was chosen by scouts at the Sheraton Hotel in south McAllen to go to the next phase in Dallas. After doing well in Dallas, he was sent to auditions in California and finally got the part.He commented that "Javier is a very good friend to Akeelah ... And also like his charisma, his character, he can always put a smile on your face. He really doesn't care what people think of him that much and he helps Akeelah out with that little matter because she cares very much what people think about her."
Akeelah's rival who can be "sometimes harsh and seemingly cutthroat", but this is because of the pressure his father puts on him. Afable notes that Dylan's "true character" is seen at the end of the film.
Garey did "about six auditions" to take the role.She commented that about her character: "she encourages Akeelah, because she sees so many qualities in her that she doesn't think she herself has. Georgia aims lower, but she encourages Akeelah to aim higher."

Erica Hubbard, Lee Thompson Young, and Julito McCullum portray Akeelah's sister and brothers Kiana, Devon, and Terrence Anderson, respectively. Dalia Phillips appears as Akeelah's teacher, Sara Niemietz as Polly, Ms. Cross, and Eddie Steeples as Derrick T., Tzi Ma takes the role of Mr. Chu, Dylan's father, while Wolfgang Bodison plays Mr. Anderson, Akeelah's deceased father.

Critical Reception[]

The film received positive reviews from most critics, earning an 83% "fresh" rating based on 131 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes. Its critical consensus states: "Although predictable in every way, a winning performance from its young star Keke Palmer and the rest of the cast makes it difficult not to cheer for the little heroine of Akeelah and the Bee. Sort of like Rocky for the middle school nerd set, Akeelah is a warm, family-friendly underdog story, featuring terrific supporting performances from Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett."[3]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it a full four stars, writing, "In our winning-obsessed culture, it is inspiring to see a young woman like Akeelah Anderson instinctively understand, with empathy and generosity, that doing the right thing involves more than winning. That's what makes the film particularly valuable for young audiences. I don't care if they leave the theater wanting to spell better, but if they have learned from Akeelah, they will want to live better."[4]

Awards and honors[]

Trivia[]

Spelling Words[]

Fun Facts[]

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