- Drama
- 141 min
- PG-13
Rotten Tomatoes81%Metacritic72IMDb6.8
A bold new take on the beloved classic.
A decades-spanning tale of love and resilience and of one woman's journey to independence. Celie faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.
- Harm to children
- Sexual violence
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Character
Grave, overwhelming, earnest and character-led.
- gravecomic
- cooloverwhelming
- earnestironic
- character-ledplot-driven
- resolvedopen-ended
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- Brent Marchanton TMDB · Feb 20246/10
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve routinely made it clear that I’m not a big fan of movie musicals. In addition, less known is the fact that I’ve also never been particularly enamored with the original dramatic version of this story (1985), a picture in which director Steven Spielberg still had his training wheels on when it came to making serious cinematic fare. With those admissions in mind, then, it would appear that this latest iteration of the classic Alice Walker novel would have two prejudicial strikes against it going in, and that assessment would be accurate, as these qualifications sincerely reflect my characterization of this alternative take on this beloved tale. Director Blitz Bazawule’s musical adaptation of this tale about a young African-American woman (Fantasia Barrino) struggling to find happiness under harsh conditions in early 20th Century Georgia is plagued by an array of issues, including an ill-fitting fusion of this story in a Broadway format/context, an uneven distribution of production numbers throughout the course of the narrative, numerous over-the-top (and frequently silly) surreal song and dance sequences (many of which look like they’ve been pl
Read the whole review on TMDB - r96skon TMDB · Feb 20249/10
A film of quality, this. <em>'The Color Purple'</em> is a blast, what is a noteworthy thing for me to say given I'm not a lover of musicals; though, to be fair, I'm way more into them in recent years since doing reviews... have learnt to appreciate 'em! This has good music alongside an extremely deep narrative, one that hits the feels directly. I've never seen or read any version of this story previously, but this is a great introduction to it. The performances are stellar. Danielle Brooks is outstanding, a real emotive showing from her throughout - top notch! I also seriously enjoyed (despite the character, who is iffily 'redeemed') Colman Domingo in this 2023 picture. He and Brooks are actors I've loved in television (<em>'<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Is_the_New_Black" rel="nofollow">Orange Is the New Black</a></em> and <em>'<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_the_Walking_Dead" rel="nofollow">Fear the Walking Dead</a>'</em>, the latter isn't the best show but Domingo is class in it), so it's extremely pleasing to see them star on the big screen. It's somewhat of a crime it has taken me this long in my review to mention Fantasia, who is brilliant - Phylici
Read the whole review on TMDB - CinemaSerfon TMDB · Feb 20246/10
Sometimes it's better just not to re-imagine/invent/devise a feature that had such a visceral impact not just on the cinema, but on the theatre and, of course - the literary world in the first place. I"m not sure this isn't one of those. It follows the story of the young "Celie" who is essentially sold to a neighbour "Mister" (Colman Domingo) when she's barely into adulthood - for a cow and some eggs. Turns out his hale-fellow-well-met character is a bit deceptive: he's a bit of a misogynist brute who sees this woman as his property. With her now the plaything of another man, her sister "Nettie" becomes the latest object of the desires of their father and in panic she flees to "Celie" for help. Out of the frying pan into the fire, perhaps - she has soon to get away from there whilst the men folk continue as if nothing has happened. The chronology speeds up a bit now and we find ourselves dipping in at various stages of their lives only discover that little has changed and their opportunities are still tied by their apron strings. Until, that is, the arrival of the jazz sensation that is "Shug Avery" (Taraji P. Henson) who brings with her the winds of quite empowering change. Meanti
Read the whole review on TMDB
Cast
- Fantasia BarrinoCelie
- Taraji P. HensonShug Avery
- Danielle BrooksSofia
- Colman DomingoMister
- Corey HawkinsHarpo
- Phylicia Pearl MpasiYoung Celie
- Halle BaileyYoung Nettie
- CiaraNettie
- H.E.R.Squeak
- David Alan GrierReverend Avery
Crew
- Blitz BazawuleDirector
- Marcus GardleyScreenplay
- Alice WalkerNovel
- Dan LaustsenDirector of Photography
- Kris BowersOriginal Music Composer
- Jon PollEditor
- Steven SpielbergProducer
- Quincy JonesProducer
- Oprah WinfreyProducer
Cameos
- Whoopi GoldbergMidwife
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