Such a frustrating disappointment

Absolutely the worst movie.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Based on a true story: Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga) is a ten-year old living in the slum district of Katwe, Uganda. Through the kind and able mentoring of a local missionary (David Oyelowo), she discovers the joys of chess and realizes a potential that is beyond her life circumstances. "Queen of Katwe" is an American film and in the English language.The film's first half is very appealing especially as it exposes class struggle and prejudice in various situations. Phiona is seen as the poorest of the poor when she first learns chess among neigbourhood peers; later, she and her new peers face further barriers and snobbery as their collective and individual talents take them to much higher places. It is more than just a battle against other chess opponents. The bigger battle is the internal voice that says, "I don't belong here" when sent to places that radically differ from the Katwe slums.Sadly, the film sags in the second half. It is even more disappointing that the directing is by Mira Nair who has done so well with other films especially "Monsoon Wedding" back in 2001. Despite the depth of the inspiring story in the first half, a blandness takes over in the second. This is unfortunate considering the movie's potential. In any case, Oyelowo is moving as the father-like figure - not surprising considering his fine work in "Selma".

Queen of Katwe The reason women don't play chess is because all of the pieces resemble penises.Fortunately, the female in this drama is unafraid of the phallic looking bits.Raised by her single mother (Lupita Nyong'o) in the abject poverty of Katwe, Uganda along side her brothers and sisters, 10-year-old Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga) doesn't have much of a future beyond selling her body.That is until she meets Robert Katende (David Oyelowo), a soccer coach who teaches chess to his players on the side. Intrigued, Phiona joins his club where she proves a phenom and fierce competitor.As her matches take her further from the slums, she finds more to life than Katwe.The powerful and inspiring depiction of the real-life chess champion, this Disney adaption of an ESPN magazine article on Phiona is a true underdog movie with vibrant performances from its leads that help transcend the film's more formulaic moments.Moreover, it's good for the male chess players to meet a real-life female. Green Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

"Sometimes the place you are used to is not the place you belong." Phiona (Nalwanga) is having a hard time trying to find a place where she feels like she fits in. Like most Ugandan families she is struggling. When she attends a chess class with her brother she meets Robert (Oyelowo) who teaches her chess, and changes her life. This is a movie I was really looking forward to. I love true stories, and movies about an underprivileged child finding a way to improve her life are usually wonderful and inspiring. This movie is no exception. The story really sucks you in and you connect with Phiona in a way you don't with many characters and find yourself actively rooting for her. The acting is really good but the drama and heart is the real reason to watch this. I highly recommend this and its a great family movie. It is a little too Disney at some points, but in a movie like this that is not a bad thing. Overall, inspiring and one I highly recommend. Stay through the credits, they have the actors standing along side the actual people they played in the movie. I wish more true stories would do something like this. I give this an A-.

I was hesitant to see the movie, although I marked it for my 2016 must watch list some time ago. There were things that discouraged me to prioritize this movie before all the other I have seen from 2016 so far - like its Disney poster, its genre of "from the bottom to the top" (always a danger to fall into clichés), and lack of exposure and reviews.I am glad I finally watched it today, as it successfully managed to avoid clichés and 2D story-line so often seen in this genre and clichés of over-romanticizing of poverty and Africa in general. I think that the main reason this movie didn't succeed much in USA or Europe on commercial merit is that people didn't really get through those clichés yet. That, and perhaps the African accent that to some western ears may sound "too stupid and slow", so people often correlate that with intelligence of people who speak it.For me, it was refreshing to see finally a good movie set out in Africa and even more so, I applaud the director's decision to shoot it in actual Katwe. It added up on the scale of authenticity and I bet it helped to facilitate actors performance as well- which is also on very high level. I especially liked Lupita Nyong'o's portrayal of the mother of Phiona - the main hero of the story. But surprisingly all child actors are really good too, even though most of them (I heard) never stood before camera (or maybe exactly because of that).As I mentioned the story is classical "from the bottom to the top" genre, but what sets this movie apart from its stereotype genre is willingness to explore characters depth, and not only that of the protagonist (Phiona), but movie managed also to depict other characters with depth and I'd say there are three protagonists in this movie: Phiona (chess prodigy), her mother, and her coach Robert Katende. Story explores their limitations and strength, with nuance, character and intelligence. There are some beautiful scenes where characters above realize their own limitations and as they try to find the way to support each other's strength despite their embarrassment. So mainly this emotional intelligence and nuance set the movie apart from clichés of its genre.Also there are many subtle references to class prejudices in Uganda (which, I think, people from every country can relate to). So bonus point for that too. We saw not just poor slums of Uganda - the dirt, poverty and tacit acceptance of it, we also saw middle class Uganda and upper rich class of Western-like style of Uganda. It was all too familiar to watch the power relations withing Uganda, although with different colour and context.All in all, a story that deserved to be told. I thought it's impossible to make a movie about chess, but this movie kind of made me thinking about learning it! And all in all, a movie that deserves to be watched and acknowledged.I definitely liked it a lot and even managed to shed a tear here and there! I also liked the final credits where you could see the actors standing besides the real people they portrayed in the movie.