Akeelah and the Bee (Widescreen Edition)

I bought this for my grandkids to watch , very good and clean movie, heart warming

Very inspiring movie. My children and I loved it.

Akeelah and the Bee is a great inspirational family film about Akeelah (Keke Palmer) who is a middle school student who wants to compete in the Scipps National Spelling Bee, hence the Bee in the title. The movie deals with the struggles of many smart kids in urban schools where they don’t want to show that they’re smart because they fear ridicule by their peers. It also has the community rallying behind Akeelah to help her prepare for the Bee, while also highlighting the class differences between Akeelah and the kids she’ll be competing against.The movie begins with Akeelah getting an A on a spelling test in school, but not wanting anyone to know because she’s afraid what her classmates might say about her. This is the peer pressure she’s under to not show her smarts. She’s self-motivated and is inspired by her dead father who she talks to every night, but she needs to overcome her fears before she’s prepared to compete in the Bee.The story then focuses upon her preparing for the competition and all the people that help her. That ranges from Dr. Joshua Larabee (Laurence Fishburne) an English professor who becomes her coach to the locals in her community.Finally, there’s the class issue. As her school principal and brother tell Akeelah she will be competing with kids from affluent families from the rich neighborhoods and suburbs that have the money, time and a history of competing. Akeelah on the other hand lives in the inner city, goes to a poor school which she hates, her mother (Angela Bassett) is more concerned with her brother who gets in trouble all the time than Akeelah and who works all the time. The differences between her and her competition is emphasized when she joins a spelling club in a well to do community. That was actually a motivation for the film maker Doug Atchison who saw only affluent kids winning the Scripps competition.Overall, Akeelah And the Bee is a great family movie. It shows the struggles of a young African American girl attempting to do something that even she questioned she could do.C

My students love this movie! It has a lot of lessons that teach young kids how to persevere and believe in yourself.

I had always thought there were only two possible outcomes to the 'pyramidal' type suspense story-- that is, the type like 'Rocky' or 'The Karate Kid' that takes a central character to an ultimate confrontation, with either an uplifting 'Agony of Defeat' type of climax or a 'Success of Course' type outcome. [The underrated Searching for Bobby Fischer is another excellent example.]Silly me!There's at least one more kind of ending possible, and Akeelah and the Bee provides a perfect example of it. I'm sure it will be copied extensively as time rolls forward, but this movie is the first one to feature it, and the surprise is delightful. In other words, it doesn't end the way you think it will, NO MATTER HOW you thought it would!It's an original story in some other ways as well: (1) It looks at stereotyping from several different angles, not just the standard two or three; (2) the standard 'gruff curmudgeon' authority figure [played by Laurence Fishburne] that is normal fare in these kinds of plots is in this case a very vulnerable person who is willing to let that fact show, and this gives a depth to the story that is usually missing; (3) the 'bad guy' opponent has demons of his own to fight, paralleling in many ways the demon that the protaganist faces. This gives a complexity to the competitions that is almost always missing in this type of story.The tale revolves around the title character, Akeelah, who lives in southwest Los Angeles, with all of the issues that such a setting implies. She becomes hooked on 'spelling bees,' and in spite of heavy odds against her participation creates for herself the dream of competing in the national championship that is broadcast on ESPN every year. It's no spoiler to say that she does indeed get there, surmounting odds of many kinds. But it *would* be a spoiler to say what happens once she does reach her goal, so I'll remain silent on that point. (Just remember what I said earlier, about there not being only two possible outcomes to such a plot.)What I won't stay silent about is my enthusiasm for the director, the screenplay, the casting, the editing, and, most of all, the star of this motion picture. And when I say Star I'm not exaggerating. Keke Palmer steals this show, from the first instant she appears. Nor is she merely a very bright child [or very young adult, if you prefer] who can get away with playing herself provided there's an excellent director handy. There IS an excellent director handy, but no way does she play herself, as will become apparent when you watch the extensive interviews with her that are part of the extras in this package.Since making this movie, she has become quite successful in the music business, as a singer and star of music videos. But in that genre, she is an entirely different person from the character she portrays in this movie, as well as being yet again distinct from the 'real' Keke in the interviews. She's a complex person with a multitude of talents, and the producers of this movie are luckier than they can imagine that they found her for the role. She's PERFECT.The same can't be said for the motion picture as a whole. For one thing, this type of formulaic plot has become so familiar to us that certain scenes can be 'smelled' long before they show up. [Credit the editors that they cut one such scene out before the movie was released, though it still exists in the extras on the DVD.]Another problem is that when the 'bad guy' is both a kid and a member of a minority himself, it's hard to stay mad at him for very long, but he does a good job [along with the excellent direction] of keeping the 'bad vibes' flowing as long as he possibly can.As is true of most really good 'children's movies,' this isn't a movie just for children. There's a lot in it for appreciative adults as well. I recommend it highly, for viewers of all ages.

Very touching story. Thanks

My daughter and I love this movie. It is inspiring, fun, motivating and encouraging. It teaches kids that it's ok to be smart and EXCEL. It teaches kids that learning can be fun and there are multiple ways to learn. It's ok to stand up for what you want, respectfully. Also What an AMAZING Cast! Keke is such an inspiration for kids. I've watched this movie several times and I still get super emotional.

Though this film was made in America, the three main child characters are from ethnic backgrounds and echo situations that arise elsewhere, particularly in multicultural Britain (which is my neck of the woods). This would be an important film to be shown in some of the problem schools in cities where low self esteem in the pupils has resulted in bad behaviour and slipped standards. However, a viewing in private and all white schools would also help to improve their opinion of intelligene within the Black community. We should definitely be producing more films with this up-beat message.

Really love this sweet heartwarming movie. Huge fan of Angela Basset & Laurence Fishburne. Plays perfectly & arrived really fast.

I purchased this DVD as i had named my daughter Akeelah and wanted to see what this DVD was about. Akeelah in the film is shown in a positive light as well as the community that she lives in... i won't go into detail about the film as it will spoil it for you... overall nice film to watch with your children.

It is brilliant film for those who want to be inspired by hard work, commitment and dedication in achieving what they set out to do...I bought this film on recommendation of watching an English teaching program on vocabulary.I would highly recommend this film.David Andrew....Birmingham

I love this movie, I love the story line. At first I thought it was going to be a depressing story but I turn out to be an up lifting one and very inspiring one. This one I will watch again.