Akeelah and the Bee - movie review

“Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate; our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, talented, and fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us, it’s in ALL of us; as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

– Marianne Williamson (from Akeelah and the Bee)

I can't imagine a much more daunting challenge than writing a screenplay for a movie about a spelling bee. In this world of fast action sports and extreme activities of all sorts, spelling a number of arcane and mostly unusable words doesn't rank high on my list of sports - spectator or otherwise. For that reason, I was pleasantly surprised how fun the movie Akeelah and the Bee was. It had just the right amount of tension to keep you interested without getting too hokey. Okay, it was a little hokey but still tolerable. A modified version of the quote by Marianne Williamson at the beginning of this review was used as part of the storyline plot to give some overall substance and moral to the story. Do any of us really live up to our potential?

According to the special features on the DVD, this movie was produced on a shoestring but there is nothing second class in the production values. Everything comes together to make this a pleasant viewing experience for the whole family. We thoroughly enjoyed it.