While the story of "Akeelah and the Bee" follows the classical underdog rags-to-riches structure, the execution is superb, and cast is uniformily good. Who'd thought a film about competitive spelling could inspire people of all ages (well if you had seen "Spellbound" from a few years ago, you would, but I digress).

If you have a son or daughter in grade school or middle school, take them to see this film, it's definitely a film that the entire family can enjoy and take something from it in the process.

I give it 3.75 stars, or a grade of A-.

Anyone heard about the distribution company, theater chains allowing every teacher to see this film for free between now and sometime next week? This is one of those films that I want to see and have heard nothing but good things about...but one of those films that really doesn't warrant a movie theater experience (to me at least). Unless it is free.

I was beginning to suspect I was the only person in America to see this film.

It's a wonderful film, with great performances (I'd like to see Keke Palmer get a Best Actress nomination; I thought she was better than that Whale Rider girl who got one). It's not perfect; there are some cliches and a few unlikely plot devices but the resolution is quite clever (although you can see it coming). I agree with Patman's rating. It's a feel good film that earns every feeling. One of the best films of the year so far.

I enjoyed this little movie. The boy who played, Javier was great. He brought the right amount of comedy to the movie. I give it a solid B.

Does it live up to fictional spelling bee genre standard set by Bee Season?

I didn't see Bee Season but Akeelah got much better reviews.

Saw this over the weekend and enjoyed it.

I was surprised by the movie's freshness when the eventual cliche'd moments had to show up. But the performances and swift direction managed to keep the movie rolling nicely and the viewer interested. A good job by everyone involved.

But man, it's so damn strange to see BOOGER as such a nice,mild-mannered principal!

I thought it was a good movie, it got really bad when those gangsters starting helping her

Yeah, but at least one of those 'gangters' was Crabman from Earl.

That's what prevented me from rolling my eyes at those scenes too! "Hey Crabman!"

Just saw this on DVD earlier tonight for the first time (didn't get to see it on theater).

I'm so thoroughly entertained and I loved the movie a lot. Keke Palmer and those other kid actors were great.

This has become one of those movies that I always have to stop and watch for awhile when flipping through the channels. Sadly, the day I watched it with the whole family, it was on one of the sister-Showtime channels, so non-HD. Although my family didn't notice it, the fullframe presentation ruined the viewing for me.

I'm no advocate of fullframe movies, but it's "Akeelah and the Bee." It's not the most visually important movie in the world.

One visually important clue was lost though. When Fishburne's character creates noise to distract Akeelah's jump-roping. The camera just pans and follows Fishburne. The viewer has no idea how Akeelah's responding. The movie's in 2:35, by the way.

ah, I stand corrected.