MOVIE REVIEW

Critical Thinking CIA 1

AKASH PAMNANI
(1923606)
Summary-

Eleven year old African-American Akeelah Anderson comes from a working class family
living in South Los Angeles. Akeelah is a bright girl, especially when it comes to words, but
finds life at poor Crenshaw Middle School boring and unchallenging, so she doesn't try. But
her natural aptitude for words spurs the school administrators, led by Principal Welch, to
convince her to try out for the process of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Akeelah, already feeling isolated from many in her school because of being perceived as a
"brainiac", feels that participating in such will make her feel even more isolated. But her joy in
learning new words at least gets her started in the process. After easily winning the school's
spelling bee, she meets and befriends Javier Mendez, a competitor at the Los Angeles district
bee where most of the competitors come from primarily white middle class to wealthy families.

There, she learns about the nature of spelling bee life in all its good and bad, the latter which
includes the cutthroat world of competitor parents. An example is Javier's classmate and two
time national runner-up Dylan Chiu, whose father will not settle for second best as Dylan enters
the last year he is eligible for the competition. Akeelah learns she needs a coach, hers to be in
the form of former spelling bee competitor and UCLA English Department Chair Dr. Joshua
Larabee, who agrees to coach Akeelah if she agrees to clean up her language, study hard, and
above all, believe in herself. Akeelah doesn't quite trust this interloper, and is disinclined to
give up what she understands as her individuality to accommodate him. Larabee, however,
points out that her notion of independence is only conformity. He teaches Akeelah not only the
rote memorization of typical spelling bee words, but how to use English in all its glorious
facets.

Akeelah progresses further and further into spelling bee life without telling her widowed
mother Tanya, who sees the bees as impinging into time in her other school work. Other
challenges that Akeelah faces are trying to balance working on her spelling against time with
her friends, and handling the hopes and dreams of all of South Los Angeles on her shoulders.
Ultimately there may be more important things in Akeelah's life than winning the national
championship.
The film focuses on Akeelah's growing respect for Larabee and his increasing trust of her and
her evolving relationship with her practical, hardworking mom. But it is in her relationships
with other kids that Akeelah is a stand-out in this formula film. She goes through some back-
and-forth with her best friend at school, Kiana (Erica Hubbard), who thrills to Akeelah's
success initially, then feels left out of the bee crowd. Akeelah's bee friends, Javier (J.R.
Villarreal) and Dylan (Sean Michael), make her feel like less of a misfit, because they share
her interests, her drive, and, at least to an extent, her gift.

Review-
Teaching kids to believe in themselves and persevere can be difficult in a world full of poor
role models and intense peer pressure. Today, kids are bombarded with messages through
media and their friends. As a parent, you have a special opportunity to help your children
develop the self-worth and courage to continually try and succeed.

In this inspirational family film, they show, Akeelah Anderson, a bright 11-year-old girl
struggling to fit in at Crenshaw Middle School. Pressured to enter the school spelling bee,
Akeelah soon discovers her natural talent for not only spelling, but competition.

The ups and downs of this charming “underdog tale that manages to inspire without being
sappy” presents more than just a night of family entertainment. This family movie is full of
lessons, and here’s what I learnt-

1. Success Takes Effort And Focus-

There is nothing new about this particular life lesson but still a very important one. The slight
twist here is that an eleven-year-old girl was the one putting in the effort and focus to reach a
goal she was not sure she initially wanted to reach. She used to practice every day with her
mentor and even when we saw during the final competition her mentor just gave her 5000
words to learn and said she can do it without him, we could see how she put in the efforts and
mastered the skill. No matter what we want to achieve in life everything requires efforts and
commitment in order to succeed.
 2. Everybody needs a coach to reach their goals-
We do not succeed on our own, never have and never will. Those who think they “made it on
their own” are kidding themselves. We all benefit from having people in our lives that have
already gone where we are going. This life lesson is as old as our species. The ego may try to
convince us otherwise but receiving wisdom and knowledge from experienced coaches and
leaders are essential in our journey. Same way we saw how even Akeelah had a mentor to guide
her and teach her not only the rote memorization of typical spelling bee words, but how to use
English in all its glorious facets.

3. We all have 50000 coaches in our life-

This is one of the more compelling life lessons from the film Akeelah and The Bee. After her
spelling coach resigns, Akeelah finds herself losing motivation and close to giving up, her
mother eventually looked her directly in the eye and stated, “You have 50,000 coaches ready
to help you”. This is one the of the life lessons that many people miss. It is great to have a
designated coach to guide and support you, but do not forget about all the “coaches” you
already have in your life. This taught me that everyone around us can teach us something and
we just need the eye to see what everyone has to offer.

4. Parental influence matters-

While Akeelah is motivated throughout this inspirational movie by teachers, friends, and
others, the influence of her parents is profound and undeniable. Her widowed mother, initially
worried that her daughter’s dream could fail and further damage her self-esteem, later becomes
a huge supporter to Akeelah, that “Even Akeelah's late father continues to exert a positive
influence on her with his love for words and solid, masculine example.”

5. Obstacles are a part of the journey-

It is foolish to believe that you will get from point A to Point B without roadblocks. They are
part of the process, an important part of the process. Each step has its own hazards, each a life
lesson, if we are able to detach enough to create perspective. At times the tests can be brutal,
they may even feel impossible. That does not mean they are impossible or you are not capable
of completing the tasks in front of you, dig deep, then even deeper.
 6. Humility is essential-
I cannot imagine achieving anything of value without accepting I am simultaneously amazing
and flawed. Greatness requires knowledge of these attributes and willingness to engage both
of them. I have all the answers inside me, but may need others to excavate these teachings.
The film twice recited the famous Marianne Williamson’s quote that nelson Mandela made
international. I find this to be an incredible declaration on humility.

7. Peer pressure can be good or bad-

Our friends have a deep influence on us, especially as children. Your children will feel pressure
from their peers on a daily basis, it’s up to you to help them choose friends wisely so that this
kind of pressure has a positive influence on them. In “Akeelah and the Bee,” Akeelah befriends
fellow speller Javier Mendez when he invites her to join his school’s spelling club. Their
friendship turns out to have a deep influence on Akeelah, as Javier encourages and supports
her throughout.
We often speak of negative peer pressure and forget the immense power of positive friendships.
Helping your children understand what a positive friend looks like can be key to improving
their self-esteem, confidence and ability to persevere.

Conclusion-
This movie taught us a lot more than just spellings. We got to learn very crucial life lessons
that were portrayed beautifully throughout this inspirational movie. Parents must support their
children in no matter what their passion is, being gifted with something isn’t enough, we need
to have the support as well, otherwise the talent is nothing. We need to remember that everyone
around us is a coach and we must learn something from everyone.