Sparkle Parent Guide

Sparkle is the kind of story we want to believe can happen—a young girl with talent and tenacity overcomes obstacles to achieve her dream. Unfortunately a good voice isn’t always enough to command the type of attention necessary to make it in the music business. So once the singer and her sisters start performing in front of an audience, their Sunday church dresses just don’t cut it.

In one evening gown with a neckline best described as “low and behold”, Sparkle (Jordin Sparks) belts out an amazing number she has written. But viewers may be too distracted by the possibility of a wardrobe malfunction to fully appreciate her musical range.

The story, a remake of the 1976 film of the same name, focuses on three siblings living in Detroit in the late 60s. Despite their single mother’s (Whitney Houston) troubled past as an aspiring but ultimately unsuccessful soloist, the family lives in an upper scale home, even owning a color television.

Because of her own career disappointments, Emma restricts her daughters’ musical participation to singing in the church choir. But that doesn’t’ stop the girls, Sparkle, Sister  (Carmen Ejogo) and Delores (Tika Sumpter), from sneaking out of the house on a regular basis to check out more worldly tunes. It also doesn’t discourage Sparkle from penning pages of pop songs in an old notebook.

After watching Sister perform one of Sparkle’s numbers at a nightclub (in a sensual staging that hardly requires lyrics to get her meaning across), a budding musical manager, Stix (Derek Luke), approaches them. Hoping to cash in on the popularity of girl groups, he wants to help them form a trio with Sister as the lead and Sparkle and Delores as backup singers.

However as their popularity grows so does Sister’s interest in Satin (Mike Epps), a high-rolling black comedian that whisks the lead vocalist off her feet when he proposes marriage. But the pairing isn’t a good one. Before long, Sister starts coming to work with obvious signs of domestic and drug abuse that threaten the siblings’ future.

Still what may be most disappointing, especially for parents of Jordin Spark’s fans who want to see the American Idol winner in her first movie, is the fact the girls seem to need increasingly revealing clothing to ensure their success. Other concerns include the repeated use of illegal drugs and alcohol, frequent smoking, an accidental death and a string of profanities.

From an artistic perspective, the film suffers from pacing problems, dragging in some places while racing through other scenes without giving adequate background information to justify decisions. And while the three young actresses put in strong performances, Houston’s final film appearance is hauntingly predictive when Emma refers to her life as “a cautionary tale”.

Unlike the fame-seeking singing trio in Dreamgirls (starring another American Idol participant Jennifer Hudson), these characters share a flesh and blood bond that adds a deeper layer to their work relationship. Yet even these loving familial ties won’t give this script enough sparkle for many family viewers.

About author

Kerry Bennett

Kerry Bennett is interested in media from both a journalist and parent perspective. Along with authoring articles for several family-oriented publications, she has written for Parent Previews for over 15 years. As a parent herself, she believes parents play a powerful role in teaching media literacy in their homes.