Summary
This movie starts with a girl who feels
isolated no matter where she goes and what she does. Her name is Akeelah who is
really good at spelling, and never makes an error on her spelling tests. She
studies at South Los Angeles and lives with her widowed mother, a sister, and
two brothers. Her principle and her teacher recommend her to sign up for
Spelling Bee, and Dr. Larabee also says she is potential but needed to be
coached. At first, she is afraid of being laughed, so she denies participating this
contest. But then her big brother persuades her to do it for her Dad. When she
goes to ask Dr. Larabee to be her coach, he rejects her because of her
rudeness. However, Akeelah thinks it’s not necessary to apologize and she can
do it by herself if she works hard. At the final round, she misspells "synecdoche".
When she is going to lose, her sister catches a cheating which a mother helps
out his son. So Akeelah gets a second chance to spell another word, finally she
wins and gets the qualification for Los Angeles District Spelling Bee. And she
also meets Javier Mendez and they become friends. Javier Mendez invites her to
join the spelling club at his school at Woodland Hills. However, her mother is
not happy with all these because she thinks spelling bee is a game and Akeelah
spends too much time on it. But she forges her father's signature on the
consent form and goes to find Dr. Larabee to apologize and ask him to be her
coach sincerely. Dr. Larabee tells her that this contest is really tough and
she can’t be afraid of it.
Observations about Akeelah in the movie
Akeelah is an eleven-year-old girl who
lives in South L.A. with her widowed mother, a younger sister, and two
brothers. She seems afraid of acting like a bookworm around her friends and
classmates and she hates everything in school which is the reason why she
always skips the classes. Moreover, maybe her father’s death and her mother’s
busy work make her feel more alien and isolated. Her two brothers have totally
different character. The bigger one is more positive, brave, optimistic and
considerate, but the younger one runs with the local gangsters and is rude
and ironic. When she is in the dilemma, her big brother encourages her to do
whatever she wants to do and do it for her father. She loves her father very
much and often talks to his picture, but she somehow kind of blames him for
leaving her alone. She is a bright girl but lacks of confidence, so she always
arms herself by acting rude and indifferent so that she won’t get hurt;
however, she is also a brave girl because she isn't afraid of acknowledging the
mistakes, correcting them and making the apology. Then Dr. Larabee appears. He
acts like her father by teaching Akeelah many things not only on the spelling contest
but also on the behavior and the meaning of life. He tells her that do not afraid
of showing the best side of her.
