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Akeelah and the Bee

Name: Akeelah and the Bee
Genre: Drama, Family
Released: April 28, 2006
Duration: 112 min
Rating: 72
Cast: Angela Bassett, Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne

2006

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critics

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 84 Ratings

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7.9

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7.9	Your Score
7.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 84 Ratings

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AKEELAH AND THE BEE

Movie Details & Credits

Lionsgate | Release Date: April 28, 2006 | PG

Starring: Angela Bassett, Keke Palmer, Laurence Fishburne

Summary: An inspirational drama, Akeelah and the Bee is the story of Akeelah Anderson (Palmer), a precocious eleven-year old girl from south Los Angeles with a gift for words. Despite the objections of her mother (Bassett), Akeelah enters various spelling contest, for which she is tutored by the forthright Dr. Larabee (Fishburne), her principal Mr.An inspirational drama, Akeelah and the Bee is the story of Akeelah Anderson (Palmer), a precocious eleven-year old girl from south Los Angeles with a gift for words. Despite the objections of her mother (Bassett), Akeelah enters various spelling contest, for which she is tutored by the forthright Dr. Larabee (Fishburne), her principal Mr. Welch (Armstrong) and the proud residents of her neighborhood. Akeelah's aptitude earns her an opportunity to compete for a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee and in turn united her neighborhood who witness the courage and inspiration of one amazing little girl. (Lionsgate)… Expand

Director: Doug Atchison

Genre(s): Drama, Family

Rating: PG

Runtime: 112 min

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Awards & Rankings

97	#97 Best Movie of 2006
76	#76 Most Shared Movie of 2006

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Roger Ebert

Keke Palmer, a young Chicago actress whose first role was as Queen Latifah's niece in "Barbershop 2," becomes an important young star with this movie. It puts her in Dakota Fanning and Thora Cross territory, and there's something about her poise and self-possession that hints she will grow up to be a considerable actress. Read full review

Scott Brown

Blessed with excellent turns by Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne, this feel-gooder revels in its hip-to-be-square hyperliteracy, and neatly exceeds its own PSA-ness, practically amounting to a black, preteen "Good Will Hunting." Read full review

Lawrence Van Gelder

The innate suspense and charm of the spelling bee, along with a trio of crack performances, turn what is in essence a formulaic sports picture into something more satisfying: an underdog tale that manages to inspire without being sappy. Read full review

Chuck Wilson

While it can't have been easy to find action points for a drama about vocabulary drills, Atchison comes up with a steady stream of plot-propelling business, including Akeelah's flair for jump rope, a skill that serves her beautifully in a clinch moment. Read full review

Michael Rechtshaffen

Effectively anchoring the picture is Keke Palmer's lovely lead performance as Akeelah Anderson. Read full review

Nathan Rabin

As the conceptually similar documentary "Spellbound" proved, spelling bees are innately dramatic. But that doesn't keep Atchison from constantly pushing the film toward theatrical moments instead of letting the drama arise organically from the story. Read full review

Marc Mohan

It's unfortunate that the lack of originality in plot and character keeps Akeelah and the Bee stuck firmly in "After-School Special" territory. Read full review

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User Reviews

MarkB.

May 2, 2006

Midway through 2002's world-class, Oscar-nominated documentary Spellbound, someone describes those nationwide spelling bees that have become ESPN staples as a form of legalized child abuse. I don't think I'd go THAT far, but near the end of Akeelah and the Bee, we hear the Midway through 2002's world-class, Oscar-nominated documentary Spellbound, someone describes those nationwide spelling bees that have become ESPN staples as a form of legalized child abuse. I don't think I'd go THAT far, but near the end of Akeelah and the Bee, we hear the stressed-out stage father of an obsessively hardworking contestant describe his son in a way that, while technically true, is so potentially psychically damaging that, yes, it DOES come across as cruel and unusual punishment no matter how well or how badly the poor kid ends up doing. This sets the stage for several key events that follow, but it's a rare painful moment in a movie that's otherwise so warm, appealing and thoroughly irresistable--a feel-good movie of such a high order that I almost hate to risk giving even the slightest impression of, uh, dissing it by labeling it with that slightly pejorative term. In fact, a comparison between this and the somewhat similarly-themed but annoyingly cliched and fraudulent classroom/ ballroom opus Take the Lead (also currently in theaters) truly illustrates Roger Ebert's pet statement (quoting Jean-Luc Godard) that the best way to criticize one movie is with another movie. Not that Akeelah and the Bee can exactly be accused of originality, mind you; you'll definitely find traces and echoes of Rocky, The Karate Kid, The Bad News Bears, Cool Runnings, Whale Rider and many, many more, but it's obvious from early on that writer-director Doug Atchison is working from his heart rather than a checklist. It's easy to see why Atchison has won screenwriting awards for this: in telling his tale of am inner-city junior-high school girl (Keke Palmer, who is flawless) who beats the odds and discovers her unique and special gifts by rising in the ranks of "the Bee", Atchison does a wonderful job of setting up situations, relationships and characters that yield payoffs that may sometimes be predictable but are no less completely pleasing for that. (His use of a very simple child's toy actually leads to TWO payoffs: one heartbreaking, the other unbelievably joyous and triumphant.) I didn't say Atchison's script was exactly PERFECT:Akeelah's mom (Angela Bassett), though credibly overworked and overwhelmed, is clueless as to what her daughter's been doing away from home a bit too long to be completely convincing, and Atchison's method of pumping up suspense in an early round by logistically placing a supporting character in a logistically convenient vantage point is a wee bit TOO miraculous. But when watching Akeelah move up, expand her horizons, develop her self-esteem and energize her community (in a montage sequence that completes Hillary Clinton's much-misunderstood statement about it taking a village to raise a child; here it works in reverse as well), I doubt that you'll be picking apart her creator's work for too long! And as effective, satisfying, funny and moving as the rest of this movie is, the national spelling bee climax delivers extraordinarily beyond expectations. You don't have to be Cal Thomas or Michael Medved to believe that sometimes what a movie says is at least as important as how it says it, and Akeelah and her opponents do something in the final twenty minutes that beautifully encapsulates the endangered concept of "healthy competition". In a day and time in which Mark Burnett acts as our primary advisor as to what qualifies as fair play, when America's Number One corporation practices a business philosophy of not only beating its competitors but completely annihilating them, when a leading politician sums up the current state of our nation's political discourse by comparing bipartisanship to date rape, and when it's getting near-impossible to tell whether our athletic superstars are setting records with or without pharmaceutical enhancement, the sheer decency promoted by Akeelah and the Bee and its characters makes it impossible to respond to this movie in any other way but to simply treasure it.… Expand

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[Anonymous]

Aug 2, 2006

supurb in every way, sweet, strong, powerful, meaningful, really good to see if you are nervous, it practically sooths your mind and fixes your problems.

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kyle20ellis

Aug 25, 2016

Excellent movie that portrayed an African AMerican female in a positive manner. Kudos to the producers and the acting cast. KeKe Palmer, Angela Bassett, and Laurence Fishburne- you are a complete unit. The whole Kenwood High School viewed your movie and discussed various character traitsExcellent movie that portrayed an African AMerican female in a positive manner. Kudos to the producers and the acting cast. KeKe Palmer, Angela Bassett, and Laurence Fishburne- you are a complete unit. The whole Kenwood High School viewed your movie and discussed various character traits that were associated with the movie. Our school is reflective of some of the same demographics associated with the movie- many students were inspired to learn new words.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Adam

Apr 22, 2006

Phenomenal -- best performances I've ever seen from Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett, and 12-year-old Keke Palmer is incredible...

0 of 0 users found this helpful

Cari

May 5, 2006

Yes it's predictable, but still it's a nice feel good/family flick. I'll get the DVD when it comes out.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

MarcK.

May 29, 2006

Very sweet film. Sometimes it got a bit hokey though. I join others and applaud Keke Palmer's performance.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

SangheliZealotX

Jun 2, 2015

This movie is AWFUL, I can't believe it got a 72, it deserves a 7.2. We're watching this in class, and I wish we were actually doing classwork instead of watching it, that's how bad it is. There's a cliche every 5 seconds and it's insanely cringe worthy at almost all moments, it's not evenThis movie is AWFUL, I can't believe it got a 72, it deserves a 7.2. We're watching this in class, and I wish we were actually doing classwork instead of watching it, that's how bad it is. There's a cliche every 5 seconds and it's insanely cringe worthy at almost all moments, it's not even remotely realistic, how do people like this? **** this movie.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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