The second film adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel “The Color Purple” (2023) is a mixed bag, featuring some tremendous showstoppers within a weak and disarrayed structure.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 3, 2024

Fantastic performances and the occasional toe-tapping musical number aren’t enough to keep The Color Purple afloat under the weight of its own aspirations. There are great elements, buried in an edit that’s sprinting for the finish-line.

| Original Score: 5/10 | Jul 28, 2024

The result is a film that contains a plethora of style and visual appeal but is still held back by narrative constraints.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 19, 2024

Alice Walker's The Color Purple has enthralled audiences since its release in 1982. The novel led to Walker receiving the 1983 Pulitzer Prize - a first for any African American woman - and has spawned two films and a Broadway musical.

| Original Score: 9.5/10 | Jul 8, 2024

The energy of the lead performers—Fantasia Barrino,Taraji P. Henson,Danielle Brooks—vanquishes all qualms... Bazawule’s direction has the vitality and grandiloquent sweep and iconic gestures that a big-screen, big-budget, big-studio musical ought to have.

| Original Score: 7/10 | Jul 2, 2024

The Color Purple is a decaffeinated remake: more militant and careful, but more monotonous and less bold than the version directed by Steven Spielberg in 1985. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 19, 2024

This is the superior version, wringing as much emotion out of viewers as the previous picture but thankfully leaving aside its tonal inconsistencies.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 16, 2024

A vibrant reimagining of an iconic, harrowing narrative, Bazawule's adaptation of the stage play may soften the trauma but not the intensity of The Color Purple, featuring a stellar cast led by a resplendent Fantasia Barrino.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 12, 2024

A dazzling musical adaptation of Walker's novel and the hit Broadway show, brought to life by a remarkably talented ensemble, and featuring an impressive selection of songs, ultimately resulting in a surprising success & one of the best films of the year.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 11, 2024

Even with its flaws, The Color Purple remains a sensitive cinematic experience.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 9, 2024

It promised something that was not just hokum. But then the rest of the film was just hokum, and there was a lot of it...

| Mar 8, 2024

period. The Color Purple is a story of great depth which should stay with you. Sadly, this new version, besides the wonderful Danielle Brooks, fades from the memory much too quickly.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 29, 2024

The Color Purple delivers on the old-school Hollywood promise of an uplifting vacation from cruel realities without feeling Disneyfied.

| Feb 21, 2024

The entire package is bathed in an evangelical glow that would seem to be part of the problem rather than a promise of salvation.

| Feb 18, 2024

The new version of Alice Walker's original story puts the emphasis on healing rather than the wound. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 13, 2024

While the film's tone is sometimes tripped up by its musical moments some brilliant acting and a great plot ultimately makes it a memorable film.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 12, 2024

A dull, lethargic musical that often trivializes serious topics about African American women's rights and lacks soul in its singing and dance numbers. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 5/10 | Feb 11, 2024

The Color Purple is a very formal and fine musical that, despite trying to bring this famous story to a new audience, does not exude originality or memorability. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Feb 9, 2024

The imposing trio formed by Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, and the unpleasant antagonist played by Colman Domingo provide an extra artistic quality to a film that does not dare to shine... [Full review in Spanish]

| Feb 9, 2024

Although there are good numbers, always exalted by the score and saved by its performers, there is rarely a dynamic sense of space, harmony, or expressive unity in the film. [Full review in Spanish]

| Feb 9, 2024