All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Average User Score: 8 (32 sources)

Submit Movie Review

Review this film

Tell the world what you think of The Color Purple

Your Score:

reset score

Write Your Review:
When writing your review, remember to keep the language clean.

Submit Review Cancel

Crzy_gurl

-1

Agree (0)

Disagree (0)

Well this definately was Whoopi Goldbergs turning point as far as this movie goes...as well as Danny Glovers. Everyone in this movie did a wonderful job. Margaret Avery (Shug Avery) Oprah Winfrey (Sophia) and even Nettie(Akosua Busia) did her...
[+] Read Full Review

Well this definately was Whoopi Goldbergs turning point as far as this movie goes...as well as Danny Glovers. Everyone in this movie did a wonderful job. Margaret Avery (Shug Avery) Oprah Winfrey (Sophia) and even Nettie(Akosua Busia) did her part. This movie is about a young girl brought into slavery where shes raped, treated badly, and the only person in the world she feels that have her back is her sister, Nettie. As time passes Mr. (Danny Glover) realizes that he likes her and tries to make his move but Nettie isnt having it. The denied Mr. kicks Nettie off of his land, the only person that ever loved Celie (Whoopi). Years past and more characters are introduced, specifically, Shug Avery...who changes Celie and gave her the confidence she needed. Throughout the pain Celie realizes that the only thing that was stopping her was herself, because she was strong all along. A movie filled with laughs, cries, love, and family will have you crying everytime you see it. I recomment any and everyone watching this flick...this ones definately a tear dropper.

[-] Minimize Review

Report Abuse

Posted aug 19, 2008 9:38 am pt

NoOneIsAlone

-1

Agree (2)

Disagree (1)

Good film, with some fine points around it. It was nothing boring, and it was certainly something to enjoy, Steven Spileberg was very cool as the director of this movie, which I am glad that he did, because this movie was not bad, but it certainly...
[+] Read Full Review

Good film, with some fine points around it. It was nothing boring, and it was certainly something to enjoy, Steven Spileberg was very cool as the director of this movie, which I am glad that he did, because this movie was not bad, but it certainly was missing some important points, so I say that this movie is average.

[-] Minimize Review

Report Abuse

Posted mar 8, 2007 9:28 am pt

• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  100
  The Color Purple is the year's best film.

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Tribune
  
  100
  Let's put it this way: To miss this film is to cheat yourself and your family of a memorable moviegoing experience. [20 Dec 1985]

  by Gene Siskel | Read Full Review »
• [+] TV Guide
  
  88
  The film deserves praise for its heartwarming, empowering presentation of the strength and nobility of black women.

  by Staff (Not Credited) | Read Full Review »
• [+] Empire
  
  80
  Unashamedly emotional, it either totally grabs you or leaves you cold.

  by Angie Errigo | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New York Times
  
  80
  Although the combination of his sensibilities and Miss Walker's amounts to a colossal mismatch, Mr. Spielberg's Color Purple manages to have momentum, warmth and staying power all the same.

  by Janet Maslin | Read Full Review »
• [+] Variety
  
  60
  There are some great scenes and great performances in The Color Purple, but it is not a great film.

  by Staff (Not Credited) | Read Full Review »
• [+] Los Angeles Times
  
  50
  For the film's existence alone we can be grateful, and it contains at least three memorable performances, but the transition has been at a harrowing cost to the tone and scale and even the underlying theme of Alice Walker's book. [18 Dec 1985]

  by Sheila Benson | Read Full Review »
• [+] Time
  
  50
  A lavishly illustrated, well-intended, self-inflicted knockoff.

  by Richard Corliss | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  
  50
  The film is mystical in tone but peculiarly inexact and weepy in execution - it embodies the apotheosis of pathos. [21 Dec 1985]

  by Jay Scott | Read Full Review »
• [+] Wall Street Journal
  
  40
  There are many scenes in The Color Purple that are strong and affecting. They do not, however, compensate for the often hackneyed vision of domestic humor, the overreaching for artsiness, the rambling final 20 minutes or so in which Mr. Spielberg subjects us to the sight of hordes of blacks leaving the sinful confines of a jazz club and heading off to church, having already been overcome by a joyous fit of gospel singing. [19 Dec 1985]

  by Julie Salamon | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Reader
  
  40
  A lot of good actors (Danny Glover, Margaret Avery, Adolph Caesar, Rae Dawn Chong) are lost to Spielberg's shallow melodrama; the only one who emerges with any clarity is Oprah Winfrey, perhaps because Spielberg shares her shameless crowd-pleasing instincts.

  by Dave Kehr | Read Full Review »
• [+] Boston Globe
  
  38
  In the end, through mawkish direction that includes ludicrous sequences of wild animals in Africa transposed from the novel but made silly by visual literalness, and a completely inappropriate musical number combining a juke joint blues singer with a gospel choir, The Color Purple disintegrates into Steven Spielberg's biggest commercial and artistic failure. [20 Dec 1985]

  by Jay Carr | Read Full Review »