For more movie summaries, see Kam's Kapsules.
 ALL I WANT TO DO IS PLAY SCRABBLE: Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) deliberately misbehaves in order to be accepted by her schoolmates in Crenshaw Middle School in South Central Los Angeles. Fortunately, her skill in spelling provides her with a way out of her problems. |
Although Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) skipped the second grade, as an older child, she has stopped living up to her potential. The 11 year-old has recently been behaving like a juvenile delinquent; skipping classes, speaking with slang, and generally dumbing herself down in order to be accepted by her best friend, Georgia (Sahara Garey) and her other classmates at her school which is in the heart of the ghetto in South Central Los Angeles.
Akeelah frequently finds herself in trouble with Mr. Welch (Curtis Armstrong), the principal of Crenshaw Middle School. Fortunately for her, he recognizes that the underlying problem is the absence of a role model in Akeelah's life after her father was murdered five years ago.
Her mother (Angela Bassett) is well-meaning but too busy working to keep a roof over the family's head to pay Akeelah much attention. Her big sister, Kiana (Erica Hubbard), is a teenager with a newborn baby, and her big brother, Devon (Lee Thompson Young), is a paratrooper in the Air Force.
Akeelah's fondest childhood memory is of playing Scrabble with her father, a practice which she has secretly continued alone on her computer and which explains why she's something of a spelling savant. Aware of this untapped talent, Principal Welch prods her to enter the school's spelling bee, run by Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), a one-time spelling champion himself.
After Akeelah easily wins, she's encouraged to prepare for the citywide competition with the goal of qualifying for the Scripps National Bee in Washington, D.C. But she balks, asking, "Why would anybody want to represent a school that can't even put doors on its bathroom stalls?" Also, she knows that she'll be competing against rich white children whose parents can afford coaches.
Fortunately, Dr. Larabee, who resides in her neighborhood, also happens to be on sabbatical and is available and willing to help Akeelah prepare for the national contest.
As they prepare for the big day, Akeelah find a spelling nemesis in Dylan Chiu (Sean Michael), an Asian kid from across the tracks whose father wants him to win more than Dylan does. However, Javier (J.R. Villarreal), from upscale Woodland Hills, befriends her and invites her to his birthday party.
When Crash arrived in theaters almost exactly a year ago, I remarked in my review that it was easily the best picture released in 2005 to that point. The same can be said for this crowd-pleaser. Any parents wondering why they don't make wholesome family flicks anymore can stop wondering. Without ever hitting a false note, and pausing for a few lighter moments along the way, this touching tale pprovides a bounty of uplifting messages while taking you on an emotional roller coaster ride guaranteed to leave you wiping away the tears more than once.
Excellent (4 stars). Rated PG for some profanity. Running time: 112 minutes. Studio: Lions Gate Films.
For more movie summaries, see Kam's Kapsules.