The Color Purple 2023 Review: Danielle Brooks, Fantasia Barrino shine in musical adaptation

The big-screen adaptation of the Broadway version of The Color Purple shines despite feeling like a greatest hits album at times. However, the terrific cast, excellent production design and memorable songs rise above sugarcoating some character interactions and developments.

Blitz Bazawule mostly succeeds in his feature directorial debut.

Fantasia Barrino delivers an impressive big-screen debut as the every-sympathetic Celie. The Color Purple starts strong by establishing the unbreakable connection between Celie and her sister Nettie (Halle Bailey, The Little Mermaid). The connection between the sisters makes the eventual separation even more painful than the 1985 version. After the sisters are separated, The Color Purple and Cecie descend into a cycle of abuse at the hands of her evil husband Mister (Colman Domingo).

The cycle of abuse appears neverending until she meets Sofia and Shug Avery. Danielle Brooks delivers the best supporting performance of 2023 as the take-no-prisoners Sofia. Taraji P. Henson‘s performance can be a bit much as Shug. However, the connection forged by this trio of women slowly gives Celie the courage to become an independent woman.

The biggest issue with The Color Purple is the failure to dive deeper into issues between characters. For instance, there’s a point where Celie advises Harpo (Corey Hawkins) to hit Sofia to keep her in line. In the next scene, Sofia rebukes Celie, breaks up with Harpo and Celie admits jealously before apologizing. On the surface this is fine, but there’s no sign of jealousy from Celie up to this point.

Making up for the storytelling shortcomings is the terrific music numbers featuring a variety of influences from R&B, blues and gospel. All of the musical sequences in The Color Purple deliver memorable moments.

Overall, The Color Purple is the best musical of 2023 and edges out Wonka due to Brooks and Barrino’s performances that stay with you.

With the overview out of the way, let’s dive deeper into the different relationships in The Color Purple. The 1985 version of The Color Purple is available to stream on Max.

The Harris Sisters in The Color Purple

Bailey and Phylicia Pearl Mpasi create an easy chemistry as Nettie and Celie Harris. The transition between Mpasi as a young Celie to Barrino as an adult is almost seamless.

Both are subject to the wicked cruelty of men. Alfonso (Deon Cole) works the sisters to the bone at his shop and has fathered two of Celie’s children. He then sells Celie’s children to whoever is willing to pay.

When Mister enters the scene, he has his eyes on Nettie. Unfortunately, her education and age mean Alphonso will only offer Celie in a trade. Mister is a farmer who abuses Ceilie for every mistake. His bitterness comes from losing the love of his life in Shug. Domingo is terrifying. Every blow he lands on Celie lands with shocking thud.

Nettie runs away from Alphonso. Surprisingly, Mister agrees to let Nettie stay and the Harris sisters are reunited. The reunion doesn’t last long. Mister tries to sleep with Nettie. She rejects his advances and he responds by kicking her out of the house. Nettie promises to write all of the time.

Bailey doesn’t have a ton of screen time in The Color Purple. From her incredible vocal range to the shrewd intelligence she portrays as Nettie, Bailey’s performance makes Nettie unforgettable. Thus her absence is always noted.

Cycle breakers

A pair of powerful, Sofia and later Shug arrive to show Celie how to be an independent woman.

Sofia and Harpo are the opposite of Celie and Mister. Harpo may be Mister’s son, but he’s not the leader of his house. Sofia refuses to bow down to anyone including Harpo or Mister. When Harpo does raise his hand after prompting from a jealous Celie, Sofia leaves him.

The dynamic between Celie and Sofia changes after Sofia ends up in jail. Sofia is in shock over the events, but Celie shows up every week to support Sofia. The change Sofia goes through is startling and Brooks who is marvelous throughout takes her performance to another level in the latter stages of the film.

Shug is a star on the Blues scene and is returning home. She makes a grand entrance to her hometown before staying at Mister’s house. Shug takes a liking to Celie and they do have something of a romance. She also encourages Celie’s independence.

Shug adds some makeup and helps Celie find her sister’s letters. Shug longs to reunite with her preacher father played by David Alan Grier. Outside of leaving the church, it’s not clear why the family issues run so deep between the Averys. Henson delivers an energetic performance that can be a bit too much at times. However, when she reels it in opposite Barrino, Henson shows she’s still a magnetic, versatile actress.

Abusive men

The cycle of abuse doesn’t just impact the women in The Color Purple, but extends to the Johnson family. There are three generations of Johnsons in the film. Louis Gossett Jr. plays the hard oldest member of the family. He passes his abusive tendencies to his son Albert “Mister Johnson (Dolmingo). The hard nature of these men seems to skip a generation with Harpo.

Hawkins shines in the musical sequences but isn’t given much room to show his dramatic chops as the generally genial Harpo. Harpo defers to Sofia on everything until he hears Celie’s advice. After he lays hands on Sofia and she leaves him, Harpo begins a relationship with Mary Agnes (H.E.R.) while still having eyes for Sofia who eventually finds a new husband. After Sofia’s arrest, Harpo and Sofia appear to patch things up, but the patching up happens off-screen.

Meanwhile, after Celie leaves him, Mister seeks redemption following a string of bad luck. The redemption arc is far more compelling in this version than in the 1985 film. Mister’s change of behavior is due to bad luck that he believes was caused by Celie’s curse. However, Mister takes several actions to treat Celie better. One of these actions revolves around showing up at Celie’s shop, while he doesn’t outwardly apologize, he comes close.

The Color Purple final thoughts

The musical adaptation of The Color Purple is the best musical of the year. Unforgettable performances by Brooks and Barrino carry the film above some character shortcuts.

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