#292: The Color of Friendship

Release Date: February 5th, 2000

Format: Streaming (Disney+)

Written by: Paris Qualles

Directed by: Kevin Hooks

3 Stars

Released at the dawn of George W. Bush administration, it's immediately apparent that the Disney Channel original movie, The Color of Friendship, is from a vastly different time and place.  

Now that children are inundated with YouTube AI slop on their mom’s tablet from the time they are 2-years old, the idea of Disney making a serious kids movie on the subject of South African apartheid seems ancient.

Set in 1977 and based on the true events in the life of California Congressman Ron Dellums (Carl Lumbly), The Color of Friendship is about the Congressman’s family - his wife Roscoe (Penny Johnson), his two young sons, and his young teenage daughter Piper (Shadia Simmons) hosting an exchange student from Africa. The Dellums are an upper-middle class black family - Congressman Dellums was involved in civil rights causes both domestically and abroad - and they see their hosting duties as an opportunity to connect more deeply with their ancestral roots.

Unbeknownst to them, their guest turns out to be a white South African student named Mahree Bok (Lindsey Haun). It’s quite the disappointment to the Dellums, especially Piper, and for Mahree, the feeling is mutual. Like the Dellums, who incorrectly assumed that their African exchange student would be black, Mahree incorrectly assumed that her host family, with a father serving as a high-ranking government official, would be white.

The remainder of the movie tracks the Dellums and Mahree on a path towards mutual acceptance and love. 

I was struck by the tone of The Color of Friendship. I haven’t seen many Disney Channel original movies, but in my mind I associate them with wacky contrivances like mistaken identities, playful witches, or high school athletes who at any moment might burst out into song and dance. That’s not the vibe here, though. The Color of Friendship is a serious drama, mostly, with some real gravitas and complicated themes.

It’s the perfect movie for the socially-conscious, intellectual 5th grader. It’s a narrow lane, that’s for sure, and sadly, I’m not sure The Color of Friendship is reaching them in 2026. It’s not because the movie isn’t good - it really is - it’s because for them, there’s a phone in their pocket and a new TikTok trend to stay on top of each and every day.