There are two ways to look at this movie. It's better as a Disneyesque sugar-coated inspirational family movie, as long as the parents and kids watching it don't get too serious or go too deep analyzing it. There is one worthwhile lesson that can be gleaned: it takes hard work and dedicated study, even for the talented, to become a "champion."



But even that lesson is tainted by the focus on super champion status, as all of the main characters finish in the top 5 nationally. Wow! How many of us can hope to be in the top 5 of anything, even in our own city, county, or state, let alone at the national level? How realistic is that, and ultimately, how inspirational? I wonder why so many so-called inspirational movies seem to imply that "winners" are those who finish at or near the very top?



Another failing of these inspirational movies is that the winners often have a special (almost magical) gift or huge amount of talent. Akeelah apparently possesses a photographic memory for words, which enables her, in the span of a couple of months, to learn enough words to beat hundreds of talented nationally-ranked contestants who have studied for years. I might marvel at such abilities and talents, but how can I feel inspired by them? Shall I feel inspired that Mozart began writing piano pieces at age five?



This movie takes place in an almost Pollyannaish ghetto in notorious South Central LA. Even the gangbangers and drug dealers are decent people (they write poetry and help Akeelah practice spelling!). Akeelah's mom and dad are smart, loving, married parents (again, not typical in a ghetto), but when Akeelah was six her Scrabble-loving dad was shot dead by a gangbanger and so mom has been raising the kids alone for five years. The mom works as a nurse at a hospital and no, we don't know why she hasn't moved her family out of the ghetto. Neither do we know why she hasn't remarried in five years, after all, she is a beautiful, smart woman (Angela Bassett).



The role of the mom is a little confusing. Does she work nights and weekends or does she have more than one job? It doesn't make sense that the neighborhood Akeelah lives in can turn out to be so supportive over one girl in a spelling bee and not supportive in other ways. Akeelah's mom gets more upset about Akeelah taking a bus to the rich kids' neighborhood to practice spelling than about her not doing half of her school homework. And Akeelah's dad was killed by a gangbanger, but it's okay for Akeelah to practice her spelling with the gangbangers? Really?!



The principal of Akeelah's school is a white man who seems more concerned about Akeelah winning the spelling bee than with problems with drugs and gangs. Of course, since this is a Pollyannaish movie we don't hear about the drugs, gangs, and violence at the school. Akeelah's only complaint about the school is that it is boring and there are no doors on the bathroom stalls. The principal tells Akeelah that if she wins the spelling bee the school might get the money it needs for doors. So that's how it works? If one kid at an inner-city school wins the national spelling bee, or the national math competition, or the national science test, it will get money? But the school gets nothing if the kid places 5th, or 10th, nationally? How inspirational!



The value of devoting so much time and effort to learning how to spell so many thousands of strange words is never questioned. Do national spelling champions do better in life, and are they happier? We are told that Akeelah spells words partly because she used to play Scrabble with her dad and partly because the distraction of rote memorization helps her cope with the loss of her dad. So Akeelah has an "excuse" for what may seem to be a weird hobby. But I wonder what all those kids could accomplish if they devoted those thousands of hours to something else besides memorizing word spellings? How many books could they read or how many languages could they learn to speak?



One other point: Akeelah seems to be the only black child in all of the spelling bee competitions. Is that supposed to be a reflection of reality, or is it for dramatic effect?



Crenshaw High School is a real school and is better known for its basketball than for its spelling bees. It is the scene for several movies and TV shows, including Boyz N The Hood.