Cinerant

My Favorite Moment of the Bee

Sometimes a movie does exactly what you think it will, but the journey is so charming and encouraging that you can’t help but fall in love with it.  Unfortunately, because of perceived “target audiences”, most of American doesn’t seem eager to fall in love with Akeelah and the Bee which is too bad.

Akeelah is about a little girl from South Central LA with a real talent for spelling.  With the help of a UCLA professor (Laurence Fishburne), she starts to fulfill her destiny, and in the process of doing so, she inspires her entire community.  

Part of what makes Akeelah feel better than a simple-inspiring retread of a story is partially its primarily African-American cast, toplined by Ike and Tina Turner, I mean Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett.  The new setting for the film gives the film a fresh feeling, full of energy, vitality, and spunk.  More over, Keke Palmer’s interpretation of Akeelah imbues her with such conviction and vigor that she is bound to win you over, just like she wins everybody else in the movie over—just through the charm and wit of her personality.  

The film contains a couple of mild expletives, but for sure this is the kind of family film that everyone with kids should relish.  It promotes academics, family, community, and self-reliance over sports, peer pressure, and economic disparity.  Sure, it’s a bit of a fantasy, particularly the way the movie all ends, but the tears you’ll cry in the end will make it all worth it.  

posted by cinegod @ 10:18 PM