CAST A COMFY SPELL

REVIEWED - AKEELAH AND THE BEE: GIVEN the deserved success of the 2002 documentary Spellbound, it was, perhaps, inevitable that somebody would put together a feature about a kid from the ghetto who, defying parental resistance and class distinctions, makes it to the US national spelling bee final.

Here it is: Spell It Like Beckham. Everything is as you might expect from such an entity. The young protagonist, an African-American resident of South Central LA, has a brother in danger of drifting into gangland violence. Her Yoda figure, played with prominent spectacles by Laurence Fishburne, has withdrawn from society following an unspecified tragedy. Any triumphs are qualified by the knowledge that there are more important things in life - if not in the movies - than defeating your rivals. And so on.

For all these galloping cliches and despite the gruesome news that it is co-produced by Starbucks, Akeelah and the Bee does prove surprisingly hard to resist. Most of the credit is due to a relaxed central performance from Keke Palmer as the eponymous speller. Moving about authentic locations, Palmer, whose charm never coagulates into cuteness, demonstrates prodigious ease and confidence before the cameras.

It is certainly true that the film slavishly follows the well-established strictures of the inspirational sports movie. Faint hopes are succeeded by minor disappointments, which are, themselves, then followed by greater triumphs.

Still, such conventions became conventions because they work and, for those in search of unlikely victories, Akeelah and the Bee will do nicely until that sixth Rocky film comes our way.