TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Tayyab Torres Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

italianredneckgirl What a wonderful way to highlight the Scripps National Spelling Bee, the families, the competitors, and the schools behind them. There aren't many films that highlight and accentuate the problems of an eleven year old girl, growing up, while the world falls apart around them. Regardless of color, this film is the epitome of an underdog clawing her way through mediocrity to the top. "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? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others"-Marianne Williamson. Her thoughts echo throughout the movie and resonate within us all. How wonderful to be able to cheer on a strong, sensitive, brilliant young girl who isn't vying for the hand of a prince, courtesy of Disney, or who isn't pressured into a lifestyle that so many others fall to. The only problem I had with the movie was the stereotype of the Asian, "Tiger Mother" and the physical abuse of the father of the adversary, Dylan Chu. There really wasn't a med to show the father striking his son. We all know the pressure placed on children, by their parents, to excel in these competitions. We all know that pressure weighs heavily, not only on the child, but on the family too. Overall, a wonderful film, directed at a difficult to pin down target audience. I wish there were more like this one. Well written, well acted, P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

museumofdave This excellent little family film is not just about winning--but about growing and achieving and learning something about yourself and other people while you're doing it; the central performance from Keke Palmer is a surprise, playing a feisty young woman who fights various pressures to achieve an almost impossible goal.Akeelah and The Bee is Rocky for the younger set, for sure, but without false heroics, and with solid performances from a close-knit supporting cast. As an older film fan, my only complaint is that most of the outcome is predictable after the first ten minutes--but so what? The performances and the strong story line told with grace and good humor carry the viewer along on a very nice ride.

Arlis Fuson Uplifting story about a young girl who's father has died, her mother works to support her and the girl seems alone in the world in many ways. She goes to school in a poor neighborhood that doesn't have all of the resources for her to have the best education possible. One thing that she does have is words. Her intellect and her knowledge for words are great and her school needs help with getting it on the map and they want to use Akeelah to help show that their children at the school need the same advantages other students get. Akeelah wins a spelling bee and then is coached by a man telling her that she needs to learn different words and to be able to break them down and know their origins...Akeelah eventually learns a lot about herself, her family, her neighborhood and she reaches for the stars and doesn't let fear hold her back.I always thought it was just a stupid kids film about a spelling Bee, but I watched it and was rather touched by the message here. No one should let the place they come from or the people around them stop them from dreaming big and trying to do the best they can in life. Life is not written in stone for you when you are born and anyone has the power to rise above.Laurence Fisburne, Angela Bassett, Curtis Armstrong and Keke Palmer do wonderful jobs acting here.This is a good drama and it has some powerful messages. 6/10 stars

MrGKB ...for two reasons: one, it features a lovely, nuanced performance from a young actor, Keke "The Wool Cap" Palmer, who will most definitely be a performer to watch over the next several decades, and two, it reunites Lawrence "The Matrix" Fishburne and Angela "The Score" Bassett in roles decidedly different from those they played in "What's Love Got to Do With It?" Beyond that, I'm sorry to say, "Akeelah and the Bee" is pretty much Movie-of-the-Week manipulative and as formulaic as a WWF match. Clichés and stereotypes abound, and even the ending is straight out of the feel-good "everyone's a winner!" playbook (and don't get me started on the absurdly easy word that pops up for Akeelah to wrap everything up in glorious, pseudo-ironic fashion). Nonetheless, I still give the film props for its positive message, if not its overtly rose-colored glasses. I still prefer "Spellbound" as a spelling bee drama; there's just as much tension rooting for the success of the contestants, and best of all, they're real people.