Discombobulated But Good

 

I've always had an odd relationship with The Color Purple. I don't care enough to read the book, and some family of mine participated in a community production of the Broadway musical. I do like the original movie, but it's also EXTREMELY annoying due to some of it's subject matters. I saw the remake yesterday, and it of course centers on Celie Harris-Johnson and the struggles she's had throughout her life.

The movie is all over the place in terms of it's writing, pacing, and it's music (and considering this was directed by the same idiot behind Black Is King, I am not surprised). Don't get me wrong, it wasn't terrible. But there were times in the movie where I wanted more but got less, and in the times I wanted less, I got more than I would like. A lot of songs from the musical were cut in favor of new songs that weren't so great. The songs from the musical that stayed in the movie were arranged horribly. I also felt that the plot moved pretty fast and that important moments from the story weren't really done justice in this. Again, it wasn't terrible, but certain scenes that should've made an impact just fell short.

As for the good parts of this movie; the acting was good. Fantasia actually did better than I expected. She was overdramatic at times, but it's The Color Purple, that's kind of a requirement. Also the singing was good, some of the actors (mainly Corey Hawkins) kind off surprised me with their descent vocals. Hell, even Ciara surprised me with her solid acting. Danielle Brooks was probably the best out of everybody. The weakest on the other hand was Taraji P. Henson in terms of both acting and singing (accept for one line). While no one's acting blew me away, it was still solid enough. I also did like some of the choreography, though a majority of it was slightly unnecessary.

I don't know if this is the best thing about the film, but you can tell that they respect the original story and movie. They didn't do a very good job with balance, but it's still very apparent that the movie did want to pay homage to the original in it's own not-well-thought-out way. There are certain parts of the story that I am relieved they didn't go overboard with in terms of today's cultural climate and I appreciate that the movie respected the spiritual element of the story as well. 

This was a good movie. Not perfect, but overall I did enjoy it. Thanks for reading.