I'm curious about the Sparkle remake. On one hand I'm happy this movie is getting remade because the original was somewhat anti-climatic but I'm not happy about how it's shaping up and I'm not happy that Whitney Houston's death is gonna overshadow it and push the original further into the shadows.
For those of you who aren't into Blaxploitation movies, the original Sparkle movie was released in 1976. The movie didn't do well at the box office and it has an average rating 6.7 rating on IMDB and a rather suprising 91% approval on rotten tomatos and is mostly remembered as a black cult classic and it was only recently released on DVD around or after the time Dreamgirls came out. The movie's soundtrack is also remembered for giving Aretha Franklin's career a boost. The original movie was about three sisters in Harlem in 1958 trying to become singing stars. At the time the United States there was a strong sense of 1950s nostalgia and that worked to give the movie a very accurate 1950's despiction. The updated version will move the storyline up to the 1960s and over to Detroit. The storyline will also be changed up a bit.
Looking at the still shots and what I've read about the Sparkle remake. It looks the movie is about to softened and with Bishop TD Jakes involvment the movie is going to get locked into PG territory. Bishop Jakes has already said that the movie will not as gritty as the original. The original was rated PG but would definately be PG-13 by today's standards due to instances of language, violence and sexual situations. The language (shit, bitch, son of a bitch and ***** are uttered) violence (a fist fight, domestic violence and a shooting) sex (bedroom scenes, talk of "making love" and references to condoms but no nudity) are all relevant to the story and not just needless instances of bad behavior, it showed the results of the choices made by each character. Also the movie was released in 1976 and there was no PG-13 then, I believe that classification came in the early 80s. Certain aspects have been rumored to be taken out, For example it's rumored that Sister, who falls into addiction and eventually succombs to it in the original movie, overcomes her issues in the remake. Effectively neutering the movie and taking away the reason Sparkle stepped away from music and Delores chose to seek life outside of Harlem.
In the original Phillip Michael Thomas played the role of Stix, Derek Luke has taken the role Can Derek Luke sing? Stix had to sing a few lines in the original? Carmen Ejogo, Tika Sumptner and Jordin Sparks takes over the roles of the Williams Sisters from Lonette McKey, Dwan Smith and Irene Cara. Tika ,Carmen and Jordin are all cuties and will look great in the movie BUT...Jordin Sparks is 6' without high heels and in the still shots she towers above the other women and I'm sure they'll be wearing heels throughout the movie, Dwan Smith and Lonette McKey stood 5' 5" and Irene stood 5' 2" and they all wore heels in that movie but Irene was still shorter than both women and really helped her look like the "youngest" sister. Jordin being 23, verses Tika being 32 and Carmen 38 will probably make up for that, but Tika and Carmen both look much younger than their actual ages. Still shots of some of the dresses do not seem to fall in line with the time, the dresses are way too short and way too revealing for the late 60s. Which is another reason why I think this movie's timeline should've been moved up to the early 90s.
The character of Effie is being completely remade. Mary Alice played the role of Effie in the original, Whitney Houston will assume the role and the character's name was changed to Emma. In the original Effie was a hardworking single mother who worked as a maid for a rich jewish family. Effie generally supported her daughters and was fond of Stix and she played a role in Sparkle's eventual success by incouraging her to reconcile with Stix. Whitney Houston's Emma is now a former R&B singer who tries to keep her daughters away from the music business. This is cliche' to me but people have argued that Mary Alice's Effie character was almost pointless in the original and that Whitney's Emma will fill out the character much more and have more dialogue. I'll have to wait and see about this. Mary Alice didn't get much screen time in the original but she did well with the screen time she had and didn't overtake the movie like Whitney probably will.
In the original movie Sparkle was a singer, not a songwriter, not a piano player, she does both in the remake. Stix was the songwriter and piano player in the original, this basically validated Stix as an actual character and not just eye candy and was another avenue for Stix propell the girls to success and to reconcile with Sparkle. What will Derek Luke do? Can Derek Sing? In the original Stix and Sparkle perform a duet of "Look into Your Heart" which serves to motivate Sparkle to give her best effort in the studio. Jordin Sparks' Sparkle is a songwriter and a piano player, so this leaves me to wonder, Where does Stix come in, what role does he serve? Is he just Sparkle's supportive love interest? Is just an opportunistic guy looking to make a buck off the girls? I'm very curious as to how this will work out.
Now one of the issues I had with the original that it had an anti-climatic feel. Stix overcomes his situation with the mobsters and runs up to see Sparkle finish her set. Sparkle sings, Effie and Stix smile, Sparkle bows and the credits roll with an instrumental of "Look into your Heart". We know that Sister dies, we know that Levi is in jail, we know that Sparkle has made it and we know that Delores has left. I'd like the characters to have better closure. With Levi I'd like to know how long he'll spend in jail, Maybe a closing scene of Delores smiling as she hears her sister on the radio and maybe a scene where Stix and Sparkle remember Sister (assuming Sister dies in this version). I loved the original's soundtrack but there is no denying that the soundtrack is more 70s than 50s. The remake will probably remedy that plus R. Kelly and his current love affair with sounds and musical styles of the past will probably make for some really good music. Although Aretha Franklin and Curtis Mayfield is a tough act to follow.
Speaking of sounds of the past, I think the 1960s timeline is going to negatively affect this movie. Sparkle fans (including me) are quick to point that Sparkle inspired Dreamgirls not the other way around. I am of the thinking that the original 1976 Sparkle inspired Dreamgirls not the 2012 remake. So because Dreamgirls only came out a few years ago I feel like the timeline should've been moved up. The 60s, the motown era has been done already. I can see alot of people coming away from this movie and maybe feeling like "I've seen this already". Moving the timeline to the late 80s and early 90s might've given this movie a very fresh and updated feel and maybe appeal to more of the younger audience that they are looking for.
As of right now there have no talk of cameos. Dreamgirls had cameos by Loretta Devine and Hilton Battle. With the movie being pretty much finished and a rumored closer release date I'm sure there will be no camoes from any of the original actors. Also the new cast as NOT seen the original. Teena Marie's daughter commenter (or rather lamented) about it on twitter. I don't really like that, but acting coaches might have discouraged it.
,well you know there is a market for family movies most definitely. But my thing is don't go tampering with a movie classic just because it does not fall in line your opinion of what you think life supposed to be or does not support your religion. Write and produce an original that support your values and morals...that I would have no problem with.