Review of Akeelah and the Bee (2006) by Darryl J — 29 Feb 2008

I usually cringe when I hear the term "family friendly film" because they are usually so terrible. I wasn't even interested in this movie when I heard about it. I caught the first 20 minutes one night before going to hang out with a friend and I was mesmerized. It never left my mind. I picked it up at b-buster and finally finished it.Thank god, I did!

Keke Palmer is near perfection in this movie. She really carries this whole film. Angela Basset and Laurence Fishburne were also amazing. I was so surprised at how much I loved this. I did win my school spelling bee so I really found all this exciting. This movie is so much more than the bee's though. The emotional backdrop of the whole story really got me. I was close to tears in one scene and it takes a hell of a lot to make water come out of my eyes.

I could see a lot of people calling this predictable at times but it doesn't matter when you have performances like Palmer,Bassett and Fishburne.

Thank you, akeelah and the bee, for giving me hope in "family films" again.