Akeelah and the Bee musters up all the excitement it can about an underdog from the 'hood spelling impossibly difficult words. Formulaic, yes, but an admirable effort.
Story
Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer) is a precocious 11-year-old girl from South Central Los Angeles, who acts tough and skips school but can actually spell like the dickens. She gains the attention of the school's principal (Curtis Armstrong), who wants her to represent the school at the regional spelling bee, but Akeelah balks,
