West Side Story (2021)

[Bartmanhomer]

Hello everyone. Today I'm going to review the movie called West Side Story (2021).

Spoiler: My Thoughts On West Side Story (2021)

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Yesterday I saw the movie West Side Story (2021) in IMAX. It's based on the remake of the original 1961 version of West Side Story. The movie was about two romantic lovers who lead in a turf war between two gangs. What I like about the movie was the songs and dancing as well as the fights between two gangs. I also love the romantic scene between two lovers. There wasn't anything that I dislike about the movie. Steven Spielberg did a wonderful job directing the remake of West Side Story. I'll give this movie 10 out of 10 stars.

[137beth]

I saw this film with my family. It was my first time going to a cinema since 2014 (also for a Disney-produced adaption of a Sondheim musical).

I have long held the belief that the correct way to adapt a play or stage musical into a movie is to produce it on stage and point a camera at the stage. This film adaption was done in the "wrong" way, shot as a typical movie.

But among film adaptions of musicals that are shot in the "wrong" way, I think this film is a contender for the best one I've seen.


Let's start with the things I loved about it. The casting is arguably my favorite part. Everyone in the cast who sang and danced did a spectacular job, and fit the characters very well.

The filmmakers appear to have cast based on merit of who could actually play the parts well, and not just who was an established celebrity. The only exception in that regard is Rita Moreno, who clearly got the role due to her being in the previous film adaption. Moreno nonetheless did a fantastic job.

Speaking of Moreno's role: the new character of Valentina fits elequently into the existing story as a replacement for Doc. Her expanded dialogue blends in with Arthur Laurents's original material, and while watching I could almost forget that she wasn't in the original at all.

I admit that I never cared much about the song "Keep Cool" in any previous version of West Side Story. In this movie, though, the choreography that is only possible on film brings the song to life.

In the 1961 movie, I felt the climax scene had too much on the screen. In this version, we get the climax on a street wtih everything cleared out aside from Tony, Maria, and Chino, and I think it really helps us focus on the tragic conclusion.

Now, there are a few things I felt were not so great. I think there wasn't enough dancing in some songs, particularly the prologue. I was not a fan of the reduced role of Rosalia or the fact that Bernardo sang most of her lines in "America." The creative team may have been trying to show us the chemistry between Bernardo and Anita to increase the impact of Bernardo's death, but it didn't land for me. I was also disappointed that they cut one of my favorite lines from that song ("When you will shut up and get gone?")

I have mixed feelings about the frequent use of Spanish dialogue without subtitles. I do not know Spanish, so when the characters spoke in Spanish I got a window into the perspective of the Jets. So on the one hand, an argument could be made that it improved immersion.

On the other hand, there were several scenes where I only know what happened because I saw the original. If this movie had been my introduction to West Side Story, I would have struggled to understand the plot at times. I would be hesistant to recommend watching this movie in a cinema to someone who had never seen another version of WSS and doesn't know Spanish. Once it's available on Disney+, I'll probably rewatch it with subtitles on to see what details I didn't understand.

Overall, I think I liked this movie more than the 1961 version and I would recommend it to people who like musicals.

[Lemmy]

The movie seems to be pretty good... But the decision to not add subtitles is so freaking idiotic that I decided not to support it until that's changed. And I speak Spanish.

[Tarmor]

...and I think it really helps us focus on the tragic conclusion.

Now, there are a few things I felt were not so great. I think there wasn't enough dancing in some songs, particularly the prologue. I was not a fan of the reduced role of Rosalia or the fact that Bernardo sang most of her lines in "America." The creative team may have been trying to show us the chemistry between Bernardo and Anita to increase the impact of...

This should be in Spoilers, so that you don't give away a major part/point of the movie. I haven't seen the original or the new one, but you have revealed something I shouldn't have known in advance.

Apart from that, I appreciate your review - it's much more informative that the OP's. I don't agree that adapting a stage play/musical should be simply filming it... but how you look at such things is fine - we don't have to want the same thing. I feel the point of a movie is to present a story in a larger format that isn't confined to small sets.

[LeSwordfish]

This should be in Spoilers, so that you don't give away a major part/point of the movie. I haven't seen the original or the new one, but you have revealed something I shouldn't have known in advance,

In fairness, depending on how you look at it, this story is either sixty or four hundred years old.

[Tarmor]

In fairness, depending on how you look at it, this story is either sixty or four hundred years old.

"In fairness", regardless of how old the original story is, the thread concerns a new movie that hasn't been out very long. I would think that many people would be aware of the earlier versions (purely of WSS itself in this case) but not seen any of them. I am one of those. I'm not usually interested in going to a musical / stage play, but a movie based on one (this one in particular) is a possibility.
I wasn't aware of the R&J connection (to which I presume you allude) until I googled while writing this. I'd also point out that using Spoilers is part of forum rules.

[Eurus]

I did like the casting quite a lot, until I became aware of certain issues regarding Ansel Elgort that I almost certainly can't elaborate on in this forum. That made things pretty awkward in retrospect.

Overall, I thought it was a very solid adaptation. I only saw the older movie once, years and years ago, and I've never seen it on stage, but Spielberg's version felt like it was 100% on board with the whole "being a musical" thing, which seems like it's where a lot of musical adaptations trip up. It uses realism where it's appropriate to enhance the story and make it feel more alive, but definitely understands that watching fun songs and dances is a large part of the appeal and goes all in on delivering that.

[Catullus64]

As a lover of both the classic film and the stage show, I considered this a worthy successor film to both, and it draws upon many interesting elements of both.

Honestly, I think this story works better as a period piece than it did as a work of contemporary fiction. I think it allowed the themes and ideas of the story to be examined and played with in a much more nuanced way. In particular I appreciated that the way the story framed the switching between English and Spanish, as both a personal choice by the Puerto Rican characters but also as a standard aggressively imposed on them from outside. For me it really brought the complexity of their identity issues to the fore in a tangible way, and I didn't find it too disruptive to the film since, even if like me you don't speak fluent Spanish, most of what they're saying is pretty easy to work out from context; and anytime they say anything really important in Spanish, the character will typically immediately repeat it for the benefit of the English-speaking audience.

I could go on at length about the many inventive decisions in how the musical numbers are staged, the subtle changes to choreography and musical arrangement, but that would be long-winded, so I'll simply say that about 90% of things in that department really worked for me. I'll simply say that if you want a worthwhile treatment of one of the most innovative musical scores and dance-as-storytelling efforts of the twentieth century, this movie is definitely worth your time. See it while it's in theaters if you can do so safely.