Sparkle - A Sparkling Remake

This summer which is coming to a close brought us great blockbusters, action-pact films, cheesy children's movies, and remarkable remakes.  I have spent many hours sitting in the dark watching the big screen being mesmerized by what I see.  Sparkle is bedazzling, enchanting, charming, and intriguing.  The storyline grabs you, the singing captivates you, and the stars fascinate you.  Sparkle is a remake of a 1976 film with the same name.  And, although I still believe the world doesn't need yet another remake, this one was enjoyable and sparkling (pun intended).

Instead of telling you what the movie is about and reasons you may not want to watch it (let's be real, the acting is B-list at best), I want to give you the many reasons to the contrary.  Let's start at the top with Whitney.  Majority of the people are going to go see it to because of Whitney Houston who is one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) voices of all time who lost her battle with substance abuse just 6 months ago.  Although her acting isn't award winning, it's plausible, but we really just want to hear her sing, and her rendition of "His Eye is on the Sparrow" was soulful and showed signs of the Whitney we fell in love with so long ago.  It brought tears to my eyes to realize that we will never hear that voice again, and the audience agreed with heavy applause.

Mike Epps plays a sell-out comedian, and even though that is his real-life profession, he is sinister and destructive which is out of character for him.  He was a very convincing bad boy.  Immediately upon entering the scene you decide to dislike him.  I applaud his effort and growth as an actor.  Jordin Sparks, American Idol winner, who plays Sparkle, does a wonderful job for being a singer turned actress.  She's much better at it than Beyonce (that's not hard to do), but maybe not as good as Jennifer Hudson.  Her acting isn't going to get any Academy Award nominations, but her voice is remarkable and she tears up "One Wing" in the end.  Derek Luke, Carmen Ejogo, Tika Sumpter, and Omari Hardwick round out a fantastic cast.  They may not be household names, but with a few more movies under their belts, maybe they will.

Side note:  Ladies, Omari Hardwick is yummy.  Google him.

If the actors and singers aren't reason enough to watch Sparkle, then the maybe knowing who was behind the scenes will.  The screenplay was written by Mara Brock Akil.  She is best known for creating and writing The Game and Girlfriends.  The movie was produce by TD Jakes (he finally gets one right), and one of the executive producers was Whitney Houston.  And to top it off, R. Kelly was the musical director.  It doesn't get much better than that.  Now I know you really want to go see this movie.  Please do.  Try to forget it's a remake, and go just to enjoy it.  You won't be disappointed.