5/5 Excellent Movie!
  by Sue's Reviews (Lake Forest, CA)
I have not seen the older version (Sidney Portier), but this version was excellent! The acting was superb, and you could feel what each person in the movie was feeling. I was very impressed and will definitely add this version to my collection of DVDs.

5/5 Pretty Good
  by Tasha Seegmiller (Southern Utah)
I"m glad this has been remade and think the actors selected are, for the most part, pretty talented. Coombs performance is a bit...lackluster at times, but it is great to be able to show the comparison to the old movie and the text. Wish the hair cutting scenes were still in but neither movie left them in...too bad.

5/5 A Dream Transferred
  by W. Powell
I watched this movie last night and the effects it had on me are still lingering through this morning. Not only is it a wonderful film production and acting performance of a classic and timeless story written for the stage by Lorraine Hansberry, but its also a much needed reminder of what it takes to keep our dreams alive while staying true to the moral and religious values that helped carry generations before us through tougher times.

My mother took us to see this play in NYC back in the 70's when I was about 10 year old. I remember not understanding the different reactions of the grown-ups, I was more captivated by the experience of my first Broadway play and being inside a huge ornately decorated theatre. Watching the movie last night I now understand what all the sorrow, laughter, disappointment and triumph I saw on stage and throughout its audience of years past was all about. I now know why my mother was teary eyed afterwords.

This story is simply about the passing of the torch from one generation to the next. The torch comes with all the emotions of the past (both good and bad) as well as its hopes and dreams. Any people who've been immigrants to or experienced oppression in a land will relate to this story.

I learned from watching this movie last night that what touched my mother so much in this story is that it represented her and my father's story, or any parent's story for that matter; for their children to attain all the dreams and hopes of their parents and generations past, dreams that have now become the children's dreams. I also realized in watching that the obstacles and frustrations I've had to overcome are similar to those of my parents, maybe even inherited.

So Now it is I who carry the torch and will someday, with teary eyes of joy, pass all the hopes, dreams, sacrifices and struggles to my children when the time is ripe.

The message is clarified in this updated movie production. For if we don't pass on to the next generation our hopes and dreams along with the spiritual wisdom and moral guidance of past generations, all of it can simply "dry up like a raisin in the sun, or fester like a sore and run."

A Must Watch!

And for those reviewers who I feel are unjustly criticizing the acting of Sean Combs, try to remember, its not about the messenger as much as the message. Don't be deferred, he delivers the message brilliantly. The question becomes, are you ready to receive it?

5/5 Good New Version
  by Gatsby lover (California)
I've been teaching A Raisin in the Sun for 13 years. While I love the Sidney Poitier version, my students were less than thrilled. I purchased this dvd with little hope that it would be very good, but I thought it was well done. I read some reviews about it not being good, some really picky things about whether or not a character would do something, added scenes, etc., but I really felt that this cast did a good job. My students were interested to see how "P. Diddy" would do as an actor and they and I were impressed.

4/5 Bravo for Phylicia Rashad!
  by G. Hampton Williams (PHILADELPHIA, PA USA)
I am not sure why people are trying to compare this movie version to the stage play. they don't compare, and maybe that's the point, however, without Phylicia Rashad, Saana Latham and Ms. McDonald (I can't remember her 1st name), i would have given it 3 stars. The meaning behind the story is what really counts, and how each character portrayed their roles to bring the story to light was beyond good it was exceptional. I remember seeing Ms Rashad on Oprah right before the movie aired and the scene where she finds out that her son gave the money away, was superb. Oprah asked her where did she go in that scene, and she said she went way back to slave women and their struggles, and i went right there with her. Not many movies affect me emotionally, but that scene really got to me. that was acting at its finest! it made me think about how hard my husband works to help keep our bills paid and to enjoy our life, but this womans husband worked hard to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. he suddenly dies, and because of his hard work he was able to provide some security in case of his untimely deaf. his wife seizes an opportunity to become a homeowner and put her husbands hard work to good use, and her son blows it on a fluke. that was painful!