Akeelah and the Bee

6.7/10 from 99 votes

Gender: Drama

Director: Doug Atchison

Date of release: 28 Apr 2006

Description

Eleven year-old Akeelah Anderson's life is not easy: her father is dead, her mom ignores her, her brother runs with the local gangbangers. She's smart, but her environment threatens to strangle her aspirations. Responding to a threat by her school's principal, Akeelah participates in a spelling bee to avoid detention for her many absences. Much to her surprise and embarrassment, she wins. Her principal asks her to seek coaching from an English professor named Dr. Larabee for the more prestigious regional bee. As the possibility of making it all the way to the Scripps National Spelling Bee looms, Akeelah could provide her community with someone to rally around and be proud of -- but only if she can overcome her insecurities and her distracting home life. She also must get past Dr. Larabee's demons, and a field of more experienced and privileged fellow spellers.

Extra

Budget	8000000 $
Runtime	112 minute
Producer	Lions Gate Films 2929 Productions Out of the Blue... Entertainment Starbucks Entertainment Cinema Gypsy Productions
Language	English
Themes	black people spelling bee spelling
Actors	Wolfgang Bodison Craig Wasson Lee Garlington Eddie Steeples Fay Hauser Laurence Fishburne Angela Bassett Neil Soni Lee Thompson Young Curtis Armstrong Jeris Poindexter Keke Palmer Erica Hubbard Jack Ong Bonita Friedericy Tzi Ma Lauren Sánchez Sean Michael Afable J.R. Villarreal Sahara Garey Julito McCullum Dalia Phillips Sara Niemietz George Hornedo Jeff Marlow Katie Kerwin McCrimmon Sid Ganis Austin Herrera Davis Janet Borrus