Another version of Romeo and Juliet, this film was decent but didn't really move me. This rendition isn't really an improvement, retelling, or update of the original, it's just a pure remake. The acting was good for the most part and the singing and dancing were wonderful. The movie is 2 1/2 hours long, which you start to feel and are little ready for it to be over, so something was missing, in the writing? Editing? Direction?...but even with all that time, the relationship of Tony/Maria is barely fleshed out. They go from first meeting to instantly being in love enough to forsake all their friends and family. Another thing to be aware of, is that there is a fair amount of Spanish spoken, and although I understand why Spielberg decided not to use subtitles (because subtitles/English would make it more English/American and less authentic to the heritage/culture of the Puerto Rican story) it did make it more difficult for an English viewer, and it took a little bit away from the enjoyment, trying so hard to figure out what was being said. Even though I know a tiny bit of Spanish, I kept feeling like I missed something, so that was frustrating. The film is, for the most part, authentic to the original except for moving 2 songs around, and who sang them, and the wonderful Rita Moreno playing Doc's wife (in place of the character of Doc), and the original movie had a "tom boy" character that followed the gang around wanting to be included, which in this version is firmly established as a transgender character. All in all, it's an OK film, but IMHO not as wonderful as I was hoping for and not something I'd go out of my way to recommend. Dec2021.
Review of West Side Story
