Akeelah and the Bee

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Akeelah and the Bee

Promotional poster For Akeelah and the Bee.
Directed by Doug Atchison
Produced by Laurence Fishburne
Sid Ganis
Nancy Hult
Daniel Llewelyn
Michael Romersa
Written by Doug Atchison
Starring Keke Palmer
Laurence Fishburne
Angela Bassett
Curtis Armstrong
J. R. Villareal
Eddie Steeples
Music by Aaron Zigman
Cinematography M. David Mullen
Editing by Glenn Farr
Distributed by LIONSGATE
Release date(s) April 28, 2006
Running time 112 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $8 million
Gross revenue $18,948,425 (worldwide)[1]

Akeelah and the Bee is a 2006 dramedy film written and directed by Doug Atchison. It tells the story of Akeelah Anderson, portrayed by Keke Palmer, an 11-year-old girl who participates in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, her mother portrayed by Angela Bassett, schoolmates, and also her coach, portrayed by Laurence Fishburne. It also explores issues of education in the black community.

The film was developed over a period of 10 years by Doug Atchison, the germ of the idea having started after his watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee of 1994 and combined with his experiences spent tutoring disadvantaged students in the area around the University of Southern California, where he attended film school. After four years of trying to secure funding for the film, the documentary film Spellbound came out in 2002 and perhaps, according to one producer, Sid Ganis, facilitated funding. Spellbound features a black girl, Ashley White, from Washington, D.C., in rough parallel to the independent idea developed in Akeelah and the Bee.

The film has been heavily promoted by Starbucks as a result of a partnership between Lions Gate Entertainment, 2929 Entertainment, and Starbucks Entertainment. It became the first DVD offered for sale at Starbucks.[2]

The film earned positive reviews from most critics, getting an 83% from 131 critics at Rotten Tomatoes.[3]

Contents

[edit] Plot

Akeelah Anderson attends Crenshaw, Los Angeles, California Middle School, a predominantly black school in South Los Angeles. Akeelah is a bright girl and never makes errors on her spelling tests. She lives with her widowed mother, her three siblings, and her infant niece. Her teacher recommends that she sign up for the Crenshaw Schoolwide Spelling Bee, which she wins easily. After that, Dr. Joshua Larabee, a visiting English professor, tests her with some difficult words and finds that she has the potential to reach the National Spelling Bee.

When Akeelah asks Dr. Larabee to coach her, he rejects her for being rude. Instead, she studies on her own for the district spelling bee. During the bee, her sister Kiana catches one of the other contestants cheating, which allows Akeelah to take the tenth and final qualifying spot for the regional/state bee. She also meets Javier, a twelve-year-old Mexican-American boy and fellow speller. Javier invites her to join the spelling club at Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, Woodland Hills.

In Woodland Hills, Akeelah meets Dylan Chiu, a Koren-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 interrupts her and tells her she needs a coach.

At the conclusion of the spelling club meeting, Javier invites Akeelah to his birthday party. During the party, Javier impulsively kisses her on the cheek. 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 reprimanding him for nearly losing to "a little black girl" and harshly telling him he must win first place.

Akeelah's mother, Tanya, is depressed at her husband's death, and does not want Akeelah to participate in the state bee. She denies Akeelah the right to participate in further bees, but the bee is so important to Akeelah that she forges her father's signature on the consent form.

As the state bee draws near, Akeelah memorizes all the winning words from past spelling bees and works with Dr. Larabee, learning not only words but life lessons.


During the state bee, Akeelah's mother interrupts and forces Akeelah off the stage. After an intense discussion with her coach and the school principal, Akeelah's mother relents. She asks Akeelah how she thinks she should be punished, to which Akeelah says not being allowed to continue in the bee, which her mother says would not just be a punishment to Akeelah, but to Dr. Larabee and the principal also. Akeelah suggests double her amount of chores for a month, which her mother accepts, but instead makes three months. In the meantime, Javier has avoided Akeelah's disqualification; he walks slowly to the microphone and asks for his word, "ratatouille," to be repeated and defined and used in a sentence over and over again, stalling for time for Akeelah to return. Dylan finishes first, Javier second, and Akeelah third; they all advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

As Christmas approaches, Akeelah goes out to buy Dr. Larabee a present, not knowing that he plans to give up coaching her because she reminds him too much of his deceased daughter Denise. Instead, he gives Akeelah 5,000 flashcards to study.

Without her coach, Akeelah loses her motivation. She is rejected by her best friend, Georgia, and feels the pressure from her neighborhood to do them proud. After a pep talk from her mother, Akeelah recruits neighborhood coaches, including her family members and the drug dealer, Derrick T, and prepares in earnest.

After reuniting with Dr. Larabee, Akeelah goes to Washington, D.C. with her mother, oldest brother, best friend, principal, and Dr. Larabee, unaware that her coach has paid for four of their tickets. On the plane, Akeelah sits next to Javier and her best friend, and Akeelah kisses Javier on the cheek. Her performance is solid and steady thanks to her "jump rope" strategy from Dr. Larabee. With only a few stumbles, she is smiled on as a crowd favorite. Javier and Dylan also appear; Javier is eliminated on "Merovingian", finishing 5th, and begins rooting for Akeelah. Finally, it is down to Dylan and Akeelah, and the two finalists are allowed a brief break before continuing with the championship words.


Akeelah attempts to throw away the competition by deliberately misspelling xanthosis. Dylan is baffled; he "knows" that she knows this word, because he was the one who told her that it began with an "x". To buy time, Dylan then misspells it on purpose as well. The commentators discuss the odds against two such excellent spellers both spelling the same word wrong. Dylan uses the time to tell Akeelah that he only wants to win fair and square. They both go word for word up to number 24. Dylan correctly spells "logorrhea", earning him at least a share of first place, and then Akeelah spells "pulchritude" correctly to become co-champion, setting off cheers from Washington, D.C. to California.

[edit] Cast


[edit] Awards and nominations

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Akeelah and the Bee (2006)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=akeelahandthebee.htm. Retrieved August 18, 2009. 
  2. ^ Ault, Susanne (June 2, 2006). "Starbucks rocks with Berry DVD". Video Business. Archived from the original on August 18, 2009. http://www.webcitation.org/5j7VkJQ72. Retrieved August 18, 2009. 
  3. ^ "Akeelah and the Bee (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1156479-akeelah_and_the_bee/. Retrieved August 18, 2009. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akeelah_and_the_Bee"