A
crowd-pleasing (in a good way) underdog story about a South Central LA girl who
enters the National Spelling Bee.
This was the movie chosen to
open this year’s Philadelphia Film Festival. It’s also the second movie in the
space of six months to feature the National Spelling Bee as its pivotal event.
But where Bee Season used the contest to examine a family in crisis, the
contestant herself is squarely the focus of this sometimes funny, frequently
charming drama. Twelve-year-old Keke Palmer gives a standout performance as a
girl from South Central Los Angeles whose desire to excel conflicts with an
equal desire not to seem like the school nerd, or to aggravate her widowed
mother (Angela Bassett). Laurence Fishburne is her demanding coach. Spellbound,
the superb 2002 documentary, has a lot more genuine suspense than
this. And how is that so many top spellers come from near Hollywood? A couple of
the supporting characters (e.g., Bassett’s) are a little too flip-floppy also,
but Akeelah effectively tugs at the heartstrings and plays out as an
underdog story without undue sappiness.
posted 9/1/13
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