Akeelah and the Bee [2006]

Shikyo's Ratings: 2 outta 5 PoPcOrNz!

This movie's totally Bee for Boring...
...unless you're in need for a FEEL GOOD movie.


One of the things that saved this movie is Laurence Fishburne (aka Morpheus) who acts as Akeelah's coach. He's a brilliant actor and I love the way he delivers his lines. Other than that, this movie did nothing for me -- it has a very straight forward and predictable plot.

Sure, it explores the whole Black community thing, but I think this movie should have just concentrated on the spelling contest and nothing else. I don't understand why it has to hover over racial issues and meander about the difficulties of a Black person's livelihood -- the fact is, I don't care! >_< In this day and age, racial issues should be a thing of the past!


Personal note: I think the world will be a better place without irrational people making stereotypical observations just because of another person's skin tone or hair color. People are of the same species, period, there should be no breaking down into races and gender and all the other things that make one person's social life "different" from another's.


Maybe the movie's trying to tell us how much harder it is for a Black person to get a better education, I dunno... however, there's a point in the movie when Akeelah's mom confessed that it was actually her FEAR OF FAILURE that got to her, rather than blaming it on society's racial discriminations. That was good to hear.


Another thing I didn't quite like: The cliche portrayal of the Chinese kid's dad -- who wanted his kid to be Number One... to the point of robbing him out of the fun-ness of the competition and/or the fun-ness of his childhood life. Seriously, stereotype alarms going off again ~_~"


Anyway, the main reason why this movie wasn't a total flop for me... there's one line that Morpheus gets Akeelah to read out loud:
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be?"


But it ties very nicely back to Akeelah's mom's recollection of her past, and it's just a very good quote =)


* * * * *


Note 1: The above quote was by Marianne Williamson, NOT Nelson Mandela. I'm rather pissed that the movie tried to misinform the public... so much for trying to tie a good quote to an old influential black dude =|

Note 2: I like to call him Laurence Fishburne, "Morpheus," so sue me