Ben Meyers’ rating: 4.0|5.0 Starsìììì
Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia
Storyline
The story begins with South Los Angeles rap
music and memorable set-up scenes from the Los Angeles ghetto. Akeelah Anderson
(Keke Palmer), an 11-year-old girl, walks down the sidewalk as a narrator
informs the audience of the humble beginnings of the spelling bee at Crenshaw
Middle School. The scene moves from the dilapidated middle school into
Akeelah’s class room to show a teacher handing graded papers to her students.
The grades are not good. The teacher reprimands her students that they need to
study harder in spelling, stops at Akeelah’s desk, and asks her if she studied
for her spelling examination. Akeelah says, reluctantly, “No,” and the rest of
the students start laughing at her. The teacher sets the paper on Akeelah’s
table and says that she wants to see Akeelah after class. Akeelah looks at her
grade and it’s an “A+.” She silently sighs in relief and the next scene shows
Akeelah’s teacher talking to her about how great Akeelah is doing, that there
will be a spelling bee next week, and she recommends Akeelah sign up for it.
Additional Thanks
Thank you to Director Doug
Atchison for directing efforts. Thank you to Executive Producers Helen Sugland,
Michael Burns, Michael Paseornek, Tom Ortenberg, Marc Butan, Mark Cuban, and
Todd Wagner for making the film possible. Thank you to Music Composer Aaron
Zigman for scoring the film. Additonal actors include: Dr. Larabee (Laurence
Fishburne), Mr.Welch (Curtis Armstrong), Javier (J.R. Villarreal), Dylan (Sean
Michael Afable), and Tanya (Angela Basset).
Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?
Yes.
It’s a refreshing look at winning. The film serves as clean entertainment for
both the child and adult audience while providing an educational look at
spelling bees from a middle school perspective to the national perspective.
Video Critique Available Here:
Video Critique Available Here:
Ben Meyers
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