Sentimental, manipulative, predictable and utterly charming, writer-director Doug Atchison's underdog tale revolves around an indifferent student who blossoms after heeding the siren call of competitive spelling. Eleven-year-old Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) is both bored by her classes at Crenshaw Middle School, a struggling institution in South Los Angeles, and afraid of being ostracized as a brainiac, so she cuts classes, slacks off on homework and downplays her academic gifts. But the hours Akeelah spends playing computer Scrabble at home have made her into a bona fide spelling whiz, and Principal Welch (Curtis Armstrong) insists that she participate in the scho...
Released:
2006
Rated:
PG
Length:
112 mins