Spellbound

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Customer Reviews:

Spellbound [Posted on 2007-07-25]
The crowd-pleasing quality of "Spellbound" comes from the likeability of the eight kids featured, and the laudable values of self-discipline and self-improvement reflected in the parents' encouragement and coaching of their gifted progeny. Part of the fun, too, is trying to guess which of these word wizards--a boy from rural Missouri, an African-American girl from Washington D.C., a precocious child of privilege from suburban Connecticut--will triumph, but visibly agonized, socially awkward Harry Altman, from New Jersey, is the film's de facto icon. "Spellbound" will jangle your nerves and charm your socks off.

Spell bound [Posted on 2007-09-26]
It is amazing! One of the best documentaries I ve seen in a long time. It is funny and entertaining. Geeky but definitely has a sense of humour!

Kids with awesome work ethic [Posted on 2008-01-08]
I really enjoyed this movie primarily due to seeing how hard the kids worked to achieve their goals. Yes, the parents were highly involved, one in particular a bit too much, but the kids were highly self motivated and it showed in their work ethic and dedication.

There was a comment earlier about how a poor student could never win the Bee. And I will admit, it was eye opening to see what some of the more affluent parents put into training their kids (language tutors, spelling tutors). I still thought the fact that Ashley White and Angela from TX made this as far as they did showed poor kids could have a chance of winning. I thought they did great. I was really, really upset learning what happened to Ashley White as she moved to high school. Another teen parent, it made me more incensed at her mother. I really disliked her throughout the movie. She had no clue the opportunity this Bee was for her daughter, a great networking opportunity to help match her daughter up with mentor to get her out of the typical SE DC mentality. All she seemed to care about was the $10,000. Just a sorry excuse for a mother.

As you can see the movie really draws you into the kids lives. Definitely a great movie to own!!

fun, engaging, and inspiring [Posted on 2008-05-04]
I love good documentaries, so I thought this might be a fun one to see, and it was even better than I expected. At times the kids it followed were the source of a lot of humor, at other times I found myself becoming really drawn into the drama of this great competition, and I was never bored throughout the whole movie. I especially liked how it followed several kids from different backgrounds. You really get a feel for the great diversity because of that approach.

You will be spellbound [Posted on 2008-10-12]
I am a big fan of documentaries and I just love this one. I show it every year to my high school freshmen just before the Scripps National Bee. They moan and groan at first. (It is, after all, a documentary.) But by the end they have particular favorites--and we are all on the edge of our seats watching the final competition. Good stuff!!

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