Written by: Susan Granger
www.susangranger.com

After years of declining popularity, the American phenomenon of spelling bees has become hot again. There was the documentary "Spellbound," then the melodrama "Bee Season," even the Broadway musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee."

"Akeelah and the Bee" revolves around Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer), a verbally gifted-but-underachieving 11 year-old African-American girl from financially depressed South Central Los Angeles. Akeelah wins her school bee, then the regional competition and has high hopes of going all the way to the nationals in Washington, D.C., where she faces stiff competition from wealthier white and Asian superachievers. After losing her father, Akeelah finds a mentor and surrogate parent in crusty Dr. Larrabee (Laurence Fishburne), a UCLA professor and etymologist. Since words are his specialty, he views eager Akeelah as a vocabulary protégé, at first unbeknownst to her wary, widowed mother (Angela Bassett).

Writer/director Doug Atchison has crafted a brainiac "Boyz in the Hood." - except it's a girl - meets "The Karate Kid" and it eventually evolves into "Good Will Hunting." Emotionally simplistic and excessively sentimental, it nevertheless advocates the concept of the national spelling bee as a social proving ground for multicultural participants, as Akeelah flirts with friendly rival Javier (J.R. Villarreal) while triumphing over Dylan Chiu (Sean Michael Afable), meanwhile serving as a unifying force within her own black community.

Unfortunately, in the midst of this effective feel-good formula, Atchison succumbs to an Asian parental stereotype, a demanding Chinese father (Tzi Ma), who calls Akeelah "a silly black girl."

On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Akeelah and the Bee" is an inspirational, stirring 7, as tough love triumphs over adversity.