My review was written in October 1983 after a Midtown Manhattan screening.
"The Two Worlds of Angelita" is an earnest but uninvolving low-budget film depicting the problems of an average Puerto Rican family moving to New York City and trying to cope with a new environment. By scrupulously avoiding the usual elements of popular Latin cinema (comedy, sex, glamor, violence), Gotham-based filmmaker Jane Morrison has come up with a dull picture of very limited commercial interest.
Marien Perez Riera toplines as the nine-year-old Angelita, a bright child who has trouble making friends when she and her mom Fela (Rosalba Rolon) move to New York to join her "papi" Chuito (Angel Domenech Soto). Big stumbling block for both daughter and dad proves to be inadequate knowledge of English, hurting Angelita at school and preventing Chuito from landing a good job.
Weak storyline broadcasts all the film's main themes on the surface, with little diversion or development. After mainly chatty scenes with neighbors and relatives, pic ends abruptly with Angelita's blank expression when her dad literally takes a hike to join a training program in Connecticut.
There are knowing verbal references to popular entertainment here, as Angelita play-acts tv soap operas with her favorite doll or makes a comparison to tv bomba Iris Chacon. Other than some invigorating hits by Salsa star Willie Colon, "Angelita" lacks a popular link to its potential audience. Tech credits, including resonating direct-sound recording, are just adequate.