Research Paper
MOVIE REVIEW
Akeelah and the Bee
Akeelah and the Bee is one of those rare movies that comes along every once in a while and manages to get everything right despite sticking to an almost formulaic plot design. In this case, Akeelah is almost a sports movie, with the titular heroine involved in a spelling competition instead of any sort of sport with a ball. Make no mistake about it though, anyone who has seen the spelling championship on ESPN knows how brutal the competition can be. As a competition movie, Akeelah puts the mass of children’s sports movies to shame though, as the film proves it’s not the winning at the end of the film, but the journey there that makes us who we are.
There’s nothing really special about Akeelah. She’s just an eleven year old girl who happens to be good at spelling. That doesn’t do her much good in school though, especially since she’s fond of skipping classes and missing homework. Akeelah is one of those kids whose content to simply get by, especially if it means avoiding showing people that she’s actually smart. As one of her school’s brightest students, and as punishment for missing classes, Akeelah is dropped into the school’s first spelling bee, and quickly finds herself on a path that leads to the national competition.
Of course, as with any competitive type movie, the star has to have obstacles to overcome. In Akeelah’s case it’s her home life. Her mother is a nurse who doesn’t have much time to spend keeping tabs on her kids. Since one of Akeelah’s brothers is starting to get under the wrong influence, that leaves even less time for her mom to pay attention to Akeelah. In some ways, the spelling bee becomes a chance to get Akeelah’s mother to pay attention to her, but as overworked as mom is, there’s just no time for spelling.
Instead the attention for Akeelah comes from her spelling coach, Dr. Larabee, an almost-Mr. Miyagi type figure who has withdrawn from his world of collegiate teaching after a family
Akeelah and the Bee
Akeelah and the Bee is one of those rare movies that comes along every once in a while and manages to get everything right despite sticking to an almost formulaic plot design. In this case, Akeelah is almost a sports movie, with the titular heroine involved in a spelling competition instead of any sort of sport with a ball. Make no mistake about it though, anyone who has seen the spelling championship on ESPN knows how brutal the competition can be. As a competition movie, Akeelah puts the mass of children’s sports movies to shame though, as the film proves it’s not the winning at the end of the film, but the journey there that makes us who we are.
There’s nothing really special about Akeelah. She’s just an eleven year old girl who happens to be good at spelling. That doesn’t do her much good in school though, especially since she’s fond of skipping classes and missing homework. Akeelah is one of those kids whose content to simply get by, especially if it means avoiding showing people that she’s actually smart. As one of her school’s brightest students, and as punishment for missing classes, Akeelah is dropped into the school’s first spelling bee, and quickly finds herself on a path that leads to the national competition.
Of course, as with any competitive type movie, the star has to have obstacles to overcome. In Akeelah’s case it’s her home life. Her mother is a nurse who doesn’t have much time to spend keeping tabs on her kids. Since one of Akeelah’s brothers is starting to get under the wrong influence, that leaves even less time for her mom to pay attention to Akeelah. In some ways, the spelling bee becomes a chance to get Akeelah’s mother to pay attention to her, but as overworked as mom is, there’s just no time for spelling.
Instead the attention for Akeelah comes from her spelling coach, Dr. Larabee, an almost-Mr. Miyagi type figure who has withdrawn from his world of collegiate teaching after a family