I'm definitely not the target audience for this film but my wife was keen to see "The Color Purple" and so I duly obliged. This is not a decision that I regret. The film moved along quite snappily, it looked fantastic and some of the musical numbers were excellent.
However (you knew that was coming) it was all a bit underwhelming. I knew the bare bones of the story and so mentally prepared myself for something really quite dark and brutal. After all you can't make incest/rape upbeat can you? Well actually yes you can with a song, a dance and a lot of smiling. Odd.
This weirdness persisted throughout the movie when scenes that felt destined to shock were made to pull their punches. As a result the fine, uplifting finale lacked contrast with what had preceded it. Possibly this was down to the characters being underdeveloped and flimsy.
So "The Color Purple" isn't a terrible movie by any measure. But it is neither fish nor flesh. It feels as though the producers really wanted to simply film the stage show but being as this is a film they had to expand the range of action. But without being fully committed to the story as a movie it doesn't quite convince on either front. Still an effort was made.
However (you knew that was coming) it was all a bit underwhelming. I knew the bare bones of the story and so mentally prepared myself for something really quite dark and brutal. After all you can't make incest/rape upbeat can you? Well actually yes you can with a song, a dance and a lot of smiling. Odd.
This weirdness persisted throughout the movie when scenes that felt destined to shock were made to pull their punches. As a result the fine, uplifting finale lacked contrast with what had preceded it. Possibly this was down to the characters being underdeveloped and flimsy.
So "The Color Purple" isn't a terrible movie by any measure. But it is neither fish nor flesh. It feels as though the producers really wanted to simply film the stage show but being as this is a film they had to expand the range of action. But without being fully committed to the story as a movie it doesn't quite convince on either front. Still an effort was made.