What a great movie. Most people may not be too excited about seeing a movie about spelling, but this movie is so much more. It's one of those feel good movies that make you root for the underdog and question your own spelling abilities.Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) is an 11 year old girl raised by her mom Tanya (Angela Bassett), after her father died. Akeelah is your basic 11 year old going to school in South Los Angeles. She has a talent with words and her teachers want her to enter a spelling bee. But Akeelah doesn't want to be involved with something that makes her look like a nerd to the rest of her friends and classmates. Her mother doesn't want her to be wasting her time on such things either but Akeelah enters anyway and does very well.
When English teacher Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), finds out about Akeelah, he welcomes the opportunity to train her. He, himself was a spelling bee champ at a young age and sees the potential in Akeelah who refuses to take it seriously. Dr. Larabee observes Akeelah and notices that when she taps to her own beat, she can spell anything so he uses that to her ability and takes her to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., Meanwhile, Dr. Larabee must also convince Tanya to allow her daughter to participate.
They say it takes a village to raise a child, well this South L.A. village helps Akeelah study hundreds and hundreds of words until the whole community is behind her. Even though her best friend feels abandoned, Dr. Larabee finds a way to pay for mom, Akeelah and her best friend to fly to the competition. These kids are awesome spellers and when a champ is caught cheating by getting help from the audience, Akeelah's confidence grows as she beats her way into the crowds hearts with her gifted vocabulary.
Lions Gate FilmsDirector: Doug Atchison
Writer: Doug Atchison
Producers: Laurence Fishburne, Daniel Llewelyn, Sid Ganis
I viewed 11/06
No comments:
Post a Comment