S-A-P-P-Y and F-O-R-M-U-L-A-I-C

Akeelah and the Bee (2/5 stars)

I didn't like this movie at all.

Take the most cheesy against all odds inspirational movie you've ever seen and multiply it by a factor of ten.

1) Protagonist starts off in a bad situation? Check.
2) Reluctant Goal? Check.
3) Various random obstacles thrown at them which they overcome? Check.
4) Egregious overusage of montages? Check.

I almost broke out laughing in the middle of it because I was reminded of the "montage" song from "Team America: World Police". Look! It is Akeelah, studying in various outfits and locations, so now we know that she is trying hard to learn how to spell over a long period of time! Look! Akeelah studies with various different people, we see she has the support of her community! Queue shots of people applauding when words are spelled correctly!

Finally, this is the funniest:

5) Cheesy freeze-frame happy ending shot? Check.

Not to mention, I called (not gonna say what it is) the end of the movie as soon as I saw the first example of the relationship between two of the peripheral characters. Sigh.

Now I've got something to put on my "most overrated" list for the year, though.