Review of Akeelah and the Bee (2006) by Richard T — 19 Feb 2009

We finished this in class today and, unsurprisingly, no traits that I had problems with the first time were rectified during this viewing. The lead acting is piss poor, especially when one looks at the other child actors currently working, though a few minor characters had some good scenes.

The direction was generic, marked twice by some rolling shots out of car windows that were nice, but the use of the quick cut in this film was so noticeable and generally frustrating that I hardly felt like continuing along.

The story was generic, the score was terrible, the director literally pulled out all the stops, montages (3 of them!), slow mo with accompanied voice over, and the film is just not engaging, oh and it needs more Jett Jackson, as I stated in round one of this review last week.

The film felt so constructed, not just through dialogue but also through the situations and character types, and that big conflict at the end was made laughable by the inclusion of flashback shots and talking head things.

This film was frustrating to watch and I would not recommend it to anyone. The redeeming quality is that it's watchable, that's about all I can say. 1.96321432532.