Spellbound (2002)

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

What a touching documentary! It was spellbinding! I saw this about a decade ago on DVD and it was interesting listening to the director's commentary about how he approached the suspenseful ending where he didn't want to focus on the winner alone. Instead he wanted to celebrate the achievements of all.I was shocked to hear about the untimely death of Ted Brigham, one of the contestants featured, in 2007 while doing pre-med studies. I'd like the director to do a remake of the documentary with the current crop of contestants. There's some chatter about the high proportion of Americans of Indian descent comprising the finalists, and for the sake of free speech the documentary can consider this angle, the elephant in the room. The director should consider whether spelling bee competitions are popular in India.

"Spellbound" is a good documentary that details children from all regions of the country, who are about to compete against each other in the National Spelling Bee.The film gives real insight into what kind of isolated lives many of these children live. Some do nothing but study night and day, some have tutors, but the one thing that I took from this film about these kids, is how they all are super intelligent, and as such, they also suffer from a lack of close friendships. The only time these kids seem to let loose and enjoy themselves is when they are at a competition with other kids who are just like them.The method of telling the stories of eight students is pretty straight forward. We meet their families, and find out how they got involved, but you never hear about what the children would like to get out of the competition. They all want to win, and make their families proud, but isn't there more than that, that they would like to achieve? Do they think that this will change their life somehow? We never find out.Towards the end of the film we see a couple of brief interviews with previous winners. I would have loved to have heard more stories from other winners telling the viewer what kind of impact winning or coming in second may have had on their lives. After so many years, did they think it was worth all of the work, or was it a waste of time. Did any of them resent their parents or teachers for pushing them forward into the competition. I just think that there were other avenues that would have made the film more interesting.I'm glad I saw "Spellbound", but it's definitely not the "classic" that I had heard about.7 out of 10

This documentary follows several regional winners through the national spelling bee. The film makers don't talk but simply allow you to hear from the winners and their families.Not long after I began watching this documentary, I couldn't help but feel I've seen it before. That's because the film seems to have perhaps been the inspiration for the fictional film AKEELAH AND THE BEE--as many of the same types of kids and families are repeated. In particular, Akeelah and her mom seem very similar to the champion from the District of Columbia and the hard-driving Indian-American family seems so much like the hard-driving family in the documentary. Perhaps these parallels were unconscious, but it just seemed a lot like someone decided to re-write and fictionalize this film from 2002. Now this isn't bad, as both are very interesting films and they end very, very differently.However, I've got to admit that this film probably has a much smaller audience than AKEELAH, as many folks just won't find SPELLBOUND that interesting--after all, the overall theme is kids spelling! Still, I liked it and found myself pulled into some of the stories and found it to be an interesting sociological and psychological portrait. In particular, I found the one child very interesting from a psychological point of view, as he seemed to have many of the characteristics of a child with Asperger's syndrome. Plus, it was also very interesting that most of the finalists appeared to be of Indian or Pakistani heritage.Overall, mildly interesting and worth seeing but not one of the truly great documentaries. And, if I could only see one film, I'd recommend AKEELAH. Even though it's all fantasy, it is more interesting and high-stress than real life!

On its surface, "Spellbound" is a modest but engaging documentary about eight regional finalists on their way to Washington D.C. to join 241 others in the National Spelling Bee. Director Jeffrey Blitz keeps the structure simple, spending time with each of the eight in self-contained chapters, then moving to the built-in drama of the competition itself.But what makes "Spellbound" so much more -- and a stellar example of the power of the genre -- is that Blitz has succeeded in giving us eight intimate portraits of American families. Had he set out to probe the scope of socio-economics in this country, and the way education is understood and valued, the roles of race, national origin and region, and the variations in family and parental dynamics, Blitz would not have achieved the insights he presents.The quest for the spelling title -- or is that we each is really hoping for? -- unifies the film, but it also seems to strip away each family's defenses. Parents alternately gush and fret about their children, some push while others deflate expectation. And the children themselves, while perhaps not representative of average 12-, 13- and 14-year-olds, are disarmingly candid about their fears and dreams."Spellbound," with its apparent low-budget approach, should inspire a new generation of documentary makers.