365 Days. 365 Films.

Keke Palmer plays Akeelah, an eleven year old girl with a tremendous gift for spelling. After skipping lessons at school her English teacher makes her aware of her unusual talent for spelling and Akeelah suddenly becomes obsessed with entering the national spelling bee competition. With help from Dr Larabee (Fishburne) she begins to memorise words on her journey to become number one.

This is an uplifting film from writer and director Doug Atchinson who displays an enormous amount of directorial talent considering he has only made two feature films and a short film (even to this day). The whole cast are brilliant, especially Palmer who remains at the top of her game throughout the movie. She was only thirteen when this film was released and she still outshines the cast even though some of them are well established actors.

Akeelah and the Bee is a feel good film that everyone can enjoy and even though the premise may not sound too appealing, it will have you glued to the screen throughout if not only for the terrific performances and brilliantly written characters, but for the elements of drama and the superb direction and wonderfully crafted script.