Akeelah And The Bee 2006

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Keke Palmer, who's been working in television and movies for the past few years, is a natural on screen. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Even though their movie is more like Akeelah and the B-Plus, Fishburne, Bassett and Palmer spell quality. Read more

Ruthe Stein, San Francisco Chronicle: It's the kind of movie parents will want their kids to see as opposed to much of what's playing at the multiplex. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: Everybody has their moment. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: ... a feel-good movie that also feels genuine, even when it's at its most rah-rah. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: If [director] Atchison's well-acted, good-intentioned crowd-pleaser can trick even one moviegoer into thinking that knowledge and spelling are somehow cool, then his film will be performing a societal good that offsets its slack reliance on formula. Read more

Kathy Cano Murillo, Arizona Republic: Sure it takes place in the geeky world of spelling bees, but Akeelah has the same old-fashioned, feel-good, against-the-odds qualities as Rocky. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: If Akeelah and the Bee is a generic, well-oiled commercial contraption, it is the first to credibly dramatize the plight of a truly gifted, poor black child. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It's a successful feel-good movie, but it would make you feel even better if it didn't push quite so hard for its desired effects. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: ... a slight but winning heart-tugger ... Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Akeelah and the Bee carefully diagrams every cliche we've absorbed from sports movies, urban dramas, mentor flicks and precocious-children portraits. Yet it works. Read more

Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly: Akeelah and the Bee may spell it out for you, but it pulls few punches in its depiction of the hurdles a verbally gifted South Central L.A. 11-year-old (Keke Palmer) must clear. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Akeelah and the Bee is not short on inspiration, emotion and uplift, but would go down better without all the refined sugar. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Akeelah is derivatively entertaining in a feel-good sort of way. Read more

Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News: Producers, including Mark Cuban and Starbucks, should be commended for putting their money behind a film that, like Akeelah herself, dares to be different. Read more

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly: ... a film that makes studying Latin-root flash cards seem like a cool afterschool activity ... Read more

Jan Stuart, Newsday: Where Spellbound generated crackling suspense in its competition climax, Akeelah is virtually suspense-free, even with an attempt to wring a twist on its pre-determined outcome. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Akeelah and the Bee won a screenplay contest a few years ago, and it reads as if its writer studied too many screenplays first. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: ... Palmer -- and J.J. Villarreal, as her unflappable fellow contestant and first-blush romantic interest -- makes it all go down very easily. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: ... a delight to sit through ... Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The story of Akeelah's ascent to the finals of the National Spelling Bee makes an uncommonly good movie, entertaining and actually inspirational, and with a few tears along the way. Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: The latest spelling bee movie is a Starbucks Entertainment product, and it has a made-to-order feel about it, kind of like a compilation album. Read more

Jessica Winter, Time Out: Its cliches seem bigger and its characterisations broader than they would on the more forgiving telly. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: ... it's easy to overlook that contrivance, because the movie's heart is so clearly in the right place. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: Overly calculated yet undeniably potent. Read more

Benjamin Strong, Village Voice: Beneath its sentimental exterior, this film is Foucauldian enough to take seriously the idea that knowledge is power. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: ... this by turns funny, affecting tale pays homage not just to one young person's determination and character but to all those parents, teachers and myriad guardian angels who in real life instill young people with the love of language ... Read more