Keke Palmer	Akeelah Anderson
Laurence Fishburne	Dr. Joshua Larabee
Angela Bassett	Tanya Anderson
Curtis Armstrong	Mr. Welch
J.R. Villarreal	Javier
Sean Michael (IV)
Sahara Garey	Georgia
Lee Thompson Young	Devon
Julito McCullum	Terrence
Erica Hubbard	Kiana Anderson
Eddie Steeples	Derrick-T
Dalia Phillips	Ms. Cross
Tzi Ma	Mr. Chiu
Jeris Poindexter	Steve
Sara Niemietz	Polly
George Hornedo	Roman
Craig Wasson	Ted Saunders
Katie Kerwin McCrimmon	Herself
Marjorie Harris	National Spelling Bee Head Judge
Jacques Bailly	National Spelling Bee Pronouncer
Sean Michael	Dylan
Jumper Lark

Director	Doug Atchison
Producer	Laurence Fishburne Sidney Ganis Jaki Brown Marc Butan Mark Cuban Nancy Hult Michael Burns
Writer	Doug Atchison

There aren't enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe the excellence of Akeelah and the Bee. Superbly written and directed by Doug Atchison, this PG-rated family drama covers the same dramatic territory as the acclaimed 2002 documentary Spellbound and the 2005 drama Bee Season, but the fictional story of 11-year-old Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) is, if anything, even more entertaining, inspiring, and full of hope for the potential of children everywhere. Although reluctant at first (and fearful of being labeled a "brainiac" by classmates at her under-funded middle school in South Central Los Angeles), Akeelah grows determined to win the district, regional, and ultimately the Scripps National Spelling Bee, aided by the able coaching of an English professor (Laurence Fishburne) who, like Akeelah's overworked single mother (Angela Bassett) is slowly recovering from a devastating personal loss. Structured like a conventional sports drama, Akeelah and the Bee rises above its generic trappings to become an uplifting and deeply moving study of friendship, pride, fair play, and above all, the value of self-confidence and realization that there's more to life than winning. As played by the young Palmer in an award-worthy performance, Akeelah is a winner in the best sense of the word, and so is this wonderfully positive movie. --Jeff Shannon

Edition Details Audience Rating PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Country USA Language English Distributor Lions Gate Edition Widescreen Edition Barcode 031398195962 Region Region 1 Release Date 8/29/2006 Packaging Keep Case Screen Ratio 2.35:1 Subtitles English; Spanish Audio Tracks Dolby Digital 5.1 [English] Dolby Digital Stereo [English] Layers Single Side, Single Layer No. of Disks/Tapes 1 Features Making of Akeelah & The Bee Doug and Keke: Two Peas in a Pod Inside the Mind of Akeelah Gag Reel Deleted Scenes Keke Palmer "All My Girlz" Music Video

Personal Details Purchase Date December 2006 Seen It Yes Location USA Owner DLC Store Target Purchase Price $19.98 Condition Excellent Links Amazon US IMDB DVD Empire Amazon US