The movie Sparkle is a re-make of the original version from 1976. It’s the story of three sisters who aspire to be singers in the late 1960’s – the youngest of which is named Sparkle. As it turns out, Sparkle is the musician/songwriter and her sisters bring other attributes to the performances. The oldest is the performer and the middle sister is the brains of the operation. Naturally, the expectation is to compare this version to the original… Not this time. This was a nicely executed re-telling of the story…

Story: Even before we get into the story, it’s trite. It’s just the nature of the ’70’s; Female group of starlets climbing their way to stardom and facing all of the pitfalls that plague fame. Lead singer gets strung out on cocaine thanks to her Famous fiance – who by the way – beats her. Every other story in the 70’s used this element. Seen that before…

But, what I liked about this telling is that they seemed to tell that story with a level of control and restraint. It wasn’t overdone or exploited. In fact, most of the elements of the story were told with great restraint which is what I think made this version work.

Performances: The standout performance was Carmen Ejogo as Sister – the oldest sibling. She played the wild-child and did an outstanding job without looking like a parody. I also thought Mike Epps, who is usually good only as comic relief, did a great job of making his comedic timing, dramatic.

Jordan Sparks is technically the lead of this film and does a stand-up job in her first film lead – not award winning, but, good enough. And, we can’t complete this review without making mention of Whitney Houston in her last film role before her death. It was the perfect role for her and she, like the film overall, didn’t over do it.

And it goes without saying that the singing performances were great fun to watch.

Visual: I must give the nod for this film to the look and the details. Everything was spot-on. The wardrobe was exact; The cars were period; The feeling was every bit the late ’60’s transitioning into the early ’70’s. And because it was shot in Detroit, it looks like Detroit. The filmmakers get an A+ on location and look…

Rating: After I saw this, I had a conversation with two friends who also saw it and they walked away from the film feeling that it was, “flat.” One of them also said she felt it ended too abruptly once Sparkle finally embraced her talent.

What they saw as “flat”, I saw as controlled and contained. As discussed in the beginning of this review, stories in the 70’s went for the over-the-top, crazy, drug-infused rise to stardom. This version handled that with a bit more finesse. It was also nice to see a film featuring a predominantly black cast that didn’t include a series of stereotypes or stereotypical characters; A film that didn’t use or need any of those elements.

As for Sparkle’s ultimate success, I felt it unfolded nicely without being belabored. The destinies of each sister were revealed one at a time, culminating with the musically talented sister ending up right where she should be. We know where the story goes from there…

Sparkle gets a B from me…