REVIEW: Akeelah and the Bee

The following quote by Marianne Williamson (attributed to Nelson Mandela in the film) is extremely central to Akeelah and the Bee which I saw earlier this summer at my favorite second-run movie house, the Regency Academy Theaters in Pasadena.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous.
Actually, who are you not to be?

The movie is quite "heartwarming" but it is not mawkish. (Don't let the quote above fool ya!)As a self-confessed sesquipedalian Word Freak (not just a devotee of Scrabble™, but also Boggle™ and Text Twist™ too!) I loved the premise of Akeelah and the Bee. I guess the "high-concept" summary would be "the documentary Spellbound meets Boyz 'n' the Hood." The amazing Angela Bassett plays the mother of Akeelah Anderson (newcomer Keke Palmer) who is a gifted speller who needs English professor Laurence Fishburne's Dr. Joshua Larrabee's coaching to get to the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee. Although the script is shockingly formulaic (the director Doug Atchison won the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for his original screenplay a few years ago) the film is still highly enjoyable.

The movie received pretty good reviews but did not do boffo box-office (just under 19 million dollars). It is being released on DVD on Tuesday August 29th. Of course having Oscar nominees Fishburne and Bassett working together is pretty magical (in fact I'm looking forward to seeing them in August Wilson's Fences at the Pasadena Playhouse next month) I'm hoping that critics will not forget Keke Palmer as a contender in the acting categories at the end of the year.

GRADE: A-