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West Side Story (2021), directed by Stephen Spielberg, was unexpectedly good. When I first heard West Side Story was getting a remake by Spielberg I was dubious, especially after seeing Spielberg describe it as a “Reimaging.” I'm not a big Spielberg fan and from the trailer I thought they would make it into a weird action film musical. To my delight, I think Spielberg took a step back from the musical elements of the movie.
A lot of the songs kept to the original Broadway choreography by Academy Award winner and legend Jerome Robbins. A few were differently choreographed, notably the song “Cool” and “America.” But those songs and others kept the incredibly well done style of Jerome Robbins choreography. Justin Peck, the choreographer, did an excellent job and his love of theatre really shined through the film.
The cast was also perfect… almost. Out of all the leads Rachel Zegler (Maria), Mike Faist (Riff), Ariana DeBose (Anita) have extensive careers in stage musicals. Ansel Elgort (Tony), and David Alvarez (Bernardo) both had a bit of stage musical experience but not a lot. David Alvarez did an excellent job and pulled it off great, mostly due to his experience in ballet.
Ansel Elgort on the other hand was miscast. I like Ansel Elgort as an actor, but I think he has a niche. I would call him one of the best of our time at playing hot introverted men. But Tony is not that, he is mentioned as the ex co-leader of the Jets, which Elgort does not have the stage presence to pull off. But the bigger problem is Ansel Elgort has too low of a voice for Tony. This is especially shown in the songs “Maria” and “One Hand, One Heart.” Listen to the original “Maria” and “One Hand, One Heart” for comparison.
But my main problem is why this film got made in the first place. This movie comes into a problem that a lot of movie musicals run into; why should I go see this movie and not a stage production? And the answer is there isn’t a reason for this movie. A lot of movie musicals are weird because they are just impersonations. West Side Story (2021) is like if Pulp Fiction got a Broadway stage adaptation but with people who really tried. Sure, the script and stage directions might carry it, and it might be good. But you would watch it just wondering… Why?
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