Aug 25, 2006 08:48 PM
2802 Views
(Updated Aug 25, 2006 08:50 PM)
Dir: Doug Atchinson.
Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Keke Palmer, Angela Bassett, Dalia Phillips.
Presented by 'Starbucks Entertainment', Akeelah And The Bee is your regular cuppa of truimph-against-adversity sports story - except it's about spelling. Right now Hollywood is obsessed by the world of spelling competitions. They can’t get enough of them. First we got Spellbound, then the truly awful Bee Season and now this.
Laurence Fishburne stars as a grieving professor who teams up with a precocious super-bright, non-sugary kid Akeelah (Keke Palmer) to beat all-comers at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The contest offers her a way out of her safe'n'fuzzy Sesame Street LA ghetto.
Shy-but-sassy homegirl Akeelah 'ain't down with no bee', though - until her empowering competition coach starts suckling her on black pride speeches. Competing against kids who are richer and more experienced, can Akeelah embrace her own potential?
It’s Countdown meets The Karate Kid as our young wordsmith from the wrong side of the tracks overcomes her over-bearing mother (played by Angela Bassett) to take gold.
Even without his trademark black leather jacket and handgun, Fishburne is surprisingly convincing. But it’s newcomer Keke Palmer who steals the show and I predict a big future for this little actress. The entire film rests on her shoulders and it would be a worse film without her. It is great to see her progress as a girl who discovers a passion for learning and changes her past ways for a positive future.
The scenes with Akeelah and Dr. Larabee are the emotional core of the film, where we see a battle of wits between a hardened professor (who, naturally, is harbouring a Big Secret) and his wise pupil as they go through countless books, lists of words over and over again and practice techniques to overcome the pressures of the real competitions.
The story is cliched: there's the Asian kid driven by an obsessive father, the peppy Latino cutie, the bad-attitude bullies, et al. But it's nicely constructed by writer-director Doug Atchinson to touch on personal, emotional and social issues. Sophisticates will sneer, but anything that makes learning look so appealing is something of a rare delight.
The suspense is palpable despite the certainty of the outcome, and the kind of affectionate, geeky-kid humour that characterised the superior Spellbound edges into the picture. There’s sweetness in Akeelah’s friendship with fellow speller Javier, and credibility in the character of Chinese-American Dylan, whose strict father coaches him privately. Considering the multi-racial nature of the contests, though, the film plays the race card a little too heavily. “You goin’ up against a bunch of rich white kids — they gonna tear yo’ black a** up,” states Akeelah’s brother. Somewhat inaccurate on both counts.
Palmer, familiar to many viewers from her recent turn in "Madea's Family Reunion," provides a winning central performance. Both her youthful petulance and intelligence are unstudied, a relaxed naturalism that's almost at odds with the film's over-calculated storytelling.
When a movie's heart is so obviously in the right place, it deserves some respect. But for pure, unadulterated tension I’m more of a darts man but I wouldn’t bet against spelling becoming an Olympic sport by 2012.
