Akeelah and the Bee [Blu-ray]

Director: Doug Atchison

Overview

A young girl learns to believe in herself and value her intelligence in this critically-acclaimed, family-friendly drama. Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) is an 11-year-old being raised by her mother, Tanya (Angela Bassett), who was left on her own after the death of her husband. While Akeelah is a very bright girl, she's hardly a star student and seems afraid of acting like a bookworm around her friends and classmates. However, Akeelah's teacher sees genuine potential in her student and encourages her to enter the school's spelling bee, convinced Akeelah has the brains and the talent to win. Akeelah applies herself and emerges victorious in the local competition, but discovers the going gets tougher when she goes to a statewide bee, studying for the regionals under the aegis of strict English teacher Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), who consents to act as her coach A college professor who was a spelling-bee champ as a child, Larabee is a stubborn taskmaster who questions Akeelah's ability and commitment, but in time he develops a respect for his pupil and helps her prove her talent as she climbs the ladder to the National Spelling Bee. Meanwhile, Tanya feels intimidated when she finds the contests are dominated by children from wealthy families and privileged backgrounds, and argues that the competition may not be in Akeelah's best interest, believing instead that homework should be the one and only priority in Akeelah's life. It soon becomes apparent that if Akeelah has any intention of entering the national spelling bee championships in Washington, D.C., she will not do so with Tanya's permission or blessing. This marks the first onscreen reunion of Bassett and Fishburne since their Academy Award-nommed performances as Ike Turner and Tina Turner in Brian Gibson's 1993 biopic, What's Love Got to Do with It.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/30/2017
UPC:	0031398262046
Original Release:	2006
Rating:	PG
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:53:00
Sales rank:	23,076

Special Features

Mkaing of Akeelah and the Bee; Two Peas in a Pod; Inside the Mind of Akeelah; Keke Palmer "All My Girlz"; Music Video; Gag Reel; Deleted Scenes

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Keke Palmer	Akeelah
Laurence Fishburne	Dr. Larabee
Angela Bassett	Tanya
Curtis Armstrong	Mr. Welch
J.R. Villarreal	Javier
Erica Hubbard	Kiana
Sean Michael Afable	Dylan
Julito McCullum	Terrence
Eddie Steeples	Derrick-T
Dalia Phillips	Ms. Cross
Tzi Ma	Mr. Chiu
Jeris Poindexter	Steve
Sara Niemietz	Polly
George Hornedo	Roman
Craig Wasson	Ted Saunders
Sahara Garey	Georgia
Lee Thompson Young	Devon
Jumper Lark	Young Reporter
Katie Kerwin McCrimmon	Herself
Marjorie Harris	National Spelling Bee Head Judge
Jacques Bailly	National Spelling Bee Pronouncer
Amirah Hawkins	Tough Girl #2
Jeff Marlow	District Judge
Chloe Conroy	District Pronouncer
Lee Garlington	Regional Judge
Sidney Ganis	Regional Pronouncer,Regional Pronouncer
Austin Herrera Davis	Cheating Boy
Janet Borrus	Cheating Boy's Mom
Wolfgang Bodison	Akeelah's Father
Marcus Hawkins Dungey	Chuckie
Caroline J. Smith	Mary Calveretti
Bonita Friedericy	Volunteer
Neil Soni	Rajeev Subramonian
Jack Ong	Korean Grocer
Lauren Sanchez	Reporter
Fay Hauser	Woman On Tv
Keshell Lucas	Little Girl On TV
Corina Boettger	Red-Haired Girl
Shyann Chatman	Eighth-Grade Girl
Todd Wagner	Regional Bee Assistant Judge
Brittany Elizabeth Curran	District Speller #1
Alexandra Rieger	District Speller #2
Eric Don	Regional Speller #1
Julia Kelleher	Regional Speller #2
Zachary Gardner	Regional Speller #3
John A. Ausick	"Sacciform" Speller
Maddy Kloss	"Scutellate" Speller
Mason Green	"Longicollis" Speller
Aaron Zigman	Composer
Jessy J. Hwang	"Ginglymus" Speller
Biplab Panda	"Empennage" Speller
Alexander Christian Stephans	"Souchong" Speller
Katie L. Brown	"Intussusception" Speller
Doug Atchison	Actor
John Oxenreiter	"Engastrimythic" Speller
Katie Olson	"Escharotic" Speller
Lance Norling	Boy In Wheelchair
Jmeka Cherrel	Driver
Kahlil Ashanti	Postman
Keke	Actor
Krysten Leigh Jones	Tough Girl #1
Jason Ortenberg	"Flocculation" Speller

Technical Credits

Doug Atchison

Doug Atchison	Screenwriter
Mark Cuban	Executive Producer
Laurence Fishburne	Producer
Sidney Ganis	Producer
Nancy Hult	Producer
Daniel Llewelyn	Producer
Michael Romersa	Producer
Marc Butan	Executive Producer
Tom Ortenberg	Executive Producer
Michael Paseornek	Executive Producer
Helen Sugland	Executive Producer
Kent Kubena	Producer
Mike Upton	Producer
Nancy Barker	Sound Effects
Ezra Dweck	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

A sober, heartwarming, and inspirational drama, Akeelah and the Bee employs intelligent writing and unusually sensitive performances, especially from young African-American actress Keke Palmer in the title role. Eleven-year-old Akeelah Anderson, who lives in south central Los Angeles with her working mother (Angela Bassett), is an extremely bright girl whose grades are slipping due to unwelcome, outside influences. To get her back on track, the school principal has her enter the national spelling bee. Akeelah's coach for the event is Dr. Joshua Larabee (Laurence Fishburne), a college professor on a leave of absence following the death of his daughter. Writer-director Doug Atchison draws his characters sharply, giving clearly definable traits to each but leaving a certain amount of room for interpretation by the actors, who rise to the challenge magnificently. Larabee keenly understands that Akeelah's love for words links her to the father she lost as a small girl, and she realizes on some level that she has become a surrogate for the daughter Larabee lost. Fishburne's demonstrative passion is perfectly balanced by Palmer's quiet strength, and their scenes together are pure, unadulterated movie magic. The climactic spelling bee doesn't unfold along predictable lines, and it demonstrates that Akeelah has learned things she can't get out of a dictionary or thesaurus.