Akeelah and the Bee
From Harpo's Juke Joint
Akeelah and the Bee Changing the world...one word at a time.
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|---|---|---|
| Released | April 28th, 2006 | |
| Distributor | Lions Gate Films | |
| Director | Doug Atchinson | |
| Producer(s) | Laurence Fishburne | |
| Sid Ganis | ||
| Writer(s) | Doug Atchinson | |
| Starring | Keke Palmer | |
| Laurence Fishburne | ||
| Angela Bassett | ||
| J.R. Villareal | ||
| Sean Michael | ||
| Sahara Gray | ||
| Runtime | 112 min | |
| Rated | PG (mild language) | |
| Total US gross | $18.8 million | |
| Website | official web site | |
| Fanlisting | Powerful Beyond Measure | |
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Akeelah and the Bee is a PG-rated film, released 28 April 2006. It tells the story of 11-year-old Akeelah Anderson and her journey to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Though the film's reviews were overall very positive, it grossed $18.5 million domestically. Akeelah will be available for purchase on 29 August 2006.
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Plot
Akeelah is the youngest of four children born to Samuel and Tanya Anderson in South Central, Los Angeles. At the age of six, Samuel is shot and killed on his way home. Akeelah's widowed mother is determined that her children will not be statistics, but the odds seem to be about even; her oldest son is enlisted in the Air Force, but her daughter Kiana (Erica Hubbard) is a teenage mother. Akeelah is undeniably smart, but a chronic underachiever who tends to skip classes when she can't take the boredom, while Rodney (Julito McCullum) is a street kid who would rather be like the neighborhood baller, Derrick-T (Eddie Steeples).
Lack of attendance causes Akeelah's grades to be low, and she learns that she has to spend her summer vacation in school - unless she enters the school spelling bee. She wins handily, catching the eye of former UCLA professor Joshua
Trivia
- Akeelah and the Bee is the third film that Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne have done together. The other two were Boyz N the Hood and What's Love Got to Do with It?.
- KeKe Palmer sang "All My Girlz" on the film's soundtrack.
Links
A clip from "Akeelah", thanks to BET.com
ESPN reviews "Akeelah"
