Akeelah and the Bee

Eleven year-old Akeelah Anderson's life is not easy: her father is dead, her mom ignores her, her brother runs with the local gangbangers. She's smart, but her environment threatens to strangle her aspirations. Responding to a threat by her school's principal, Akeelah participates in a spelling bee to avoid detention for her many absences. Much to her surprise and embarrassment, she wins. Her principal asks her to seek coaching from an English professor named Dr. Larabee for the more prestigious regional bee. As the possibility of making it all the way to the Scripps National Spelling Bee looms, Akeelah could provide her community with someone to rally around and be proud of -- but only if she can overcome her insecurities and her distracting home life. She also must get past Dr. Larabee's demons, and a field of more experienced and privileged fellow spellers.Akeelah and the Bee featuring Keke Palmer and Laurence Fishburne is streaming on HBO, available for rent or purchase on iTunes, available for rent or purchase on Google Play, and 5 others. It's a drama and family movie with a high Rotten Tomatoes (critics) score of 85% and a better than average IMDb audience rating of 7.3 (17,510 votes).