West Side Story (2021) (Disney+ 4K Dolby Vision) Movie Review & Comments

Casimir Harlow

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Musicals are generally box office poison, every now and then though you’ll get one that absolutely smashes it.
Last year was a really bad year for high profile musicals, In The Heights, Dear Evan Hansen and this performing badly.
There’s only a handful of musicals I can say I truly enjoy. This wasn’t one of them, that’s said, I can appreciate this was a very well made film with some excellent performances.
 
I am 70 this year so I was 9 when it came out and it was not the sort of thing I would have gone to the movies to see.

I know most of the music that is featured in the movie though and at the time was not the sort of content that interested me. I was more into early pop stuff as the Beatles etc were just starting to appear on the scene.

Skip forward 60 years, I watched the first hour of the new movie and whilst knowing the first 2 or 3 songs found it quite slow and after that first hour gave up. I am sure fans of the original flick would like what Spielberg has done but like you said Cas something was missing and I did not warm to it.

Maybe I will give it another look but at over 2-1.2hrs long and having watched the first hour I hope the second half has all the good stuff in it in order to keep my interest.
 
I saw this in the imax when it came out and was absolutely captivated by it.
The sheer cinematic expertise on display was engrossing for me. But I do concede I was ready to enjoy it having seen and enjoyed the original a number of times.
Its interesting to see the contrast of speilbergs version with the rather stagey orginal.
 
A musical without Atmos. Too bad 😅

Edit: it’s with Atmos
 
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I saw this in the imax when it came out and was absolutely captivated by it.
The sheer cinematic expertise on display was engrossing for me. But I do concede I was ready to enjoy it having seen and enjoyed the original a number of times.
Its interesting to see the contrast of speilbergs version with the rather stagey orginal.
It was an incredible production for me and Spielberg really maximised the screen / cinematography / use of colour / choreography and I genuinely felt like I was in the time period. I hate musicals - probably a handful I like… but this was Spielberg at his finest.
 
Saw this on a bog standard Odeon multiplex screen on a cold wet Sunday afternoon in January and loved every minute of it.
Best cinema experience since lockdown ended and my limitless card has taken a right hammering.
 
The original film was remarkable and this remake is not far off that mark, I enjoyed every minute of it. May not have done well at the box office but this film will be considered a classic in the coming years IMO.
 
Thought 'Hamilton' and 'In The Heights' were excellent and looking forward to watching 'Westside Story ' on Disney+, although I do have reservations about whether a remake was actually necessary as the original was superb.

It's a shame they didn't move the setting of the remake to the present day as this would have been an interesting take on the genre.

But, I really hope they film 'The Book of Mormon' - I'll have that on constant repeat if they do!
So good I've seen the West End production twice!

Regards,
James.
 
I thought this was quite the spectacle. Beautifully shot, stunning to look at, and the set piece songs were just wonderful. Honestly my only complaint was the large amount of untranslated Spanish in it. I felt like I was missing out plot points. I even tried turning on the subtitles but they just read "speaking in Spanish"!

Still, I think this is Spielberg's best movie in a very long time. I hope it wins some Oscars. 9/10 from me.
 
I thought this was quite the spectacle. Beautifully shot, stunning to look at, and the set piece songs were just wonderful. Honestly my only complaint was the large amount of untranslated Spanish in it. I felt like I was missing out plot points. I even tried turning on the subtitles but they just read "speaking in Spanish"!

Still, I think this is Spielberg's best movie in a very long time. I hope it wins some Oscars. 9/10 from me.

We enjoyed it too, and had the same issue with dialogue switching between English and Spanish several times in the same scene. Would have preferred subtitles.

Amazing how much Ansel Elgort looks like a young Harrison Ford - they missed a trick casting ‘Solo’.

Regards,
James.
 
I rather enjoyed this. It was a worthwhile remake with updated production techniques.
 
I thought it was slow to start, but it definitely picked up as it went on.
It looked strange though- parts of it looked like a game cut scene to me.
Ansel Elgort was a rotten singer- Maria and Anita were brilliant though.
The unsubtitled spanish was just weird.
 
Watched it last night, and went into it with no preconceptions as I have never watched the original.
I did not realise the ending to this musical was so downbeat, and it added an edge to a film which I thought was pretty pedestrian in most aspects. I know it may be sacrilege to say, but most of the songs apart from the more famous ones were not that memorable. 6/10 for me.
 
For any jazz fans here, the great Dave Brubeck added a little jazz to films soundtrack

 
I thought this was quite the spectacle. Beautifully shot, stunning to look at, and the set piece songs were just wonderful. Honestly my only complaint was the large amount of untranslated Spanish in it. I felt like I was missing out plot points. I even tried turning on the subtitles but they just read "speaking in Spanish"!
Well, that's rather a cop-out. I thought at least they would provide Spanish subtitles.
 
would that mean the English language dialogue doesn't get any subtitles when it's released in Spanish speaking countries? 🤔

I remember when Mel Gibson originally wasn't going to include any subtitles at all in any modern language for The Passion Of The Christ.
 
Spielberg has gone for 'inclusivity'

Spielberg said the US is a multilingual nation with millions able to speak Spanish. Okay, that's great for them, they get to understand the entire script, but what about the rest of us?

Most of the dialogue is in English and it certainly didn't spoil the movie, but it was losing me at times during some scenes where there were lengthy exchanges exclusively in Spanish.
 
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Spielberg said he deliberately wouldn't put subtitles on the Spanish.
I wonder how the movie will be handled in non English speaking territories. In countries where Spanish is the primary language presumably the English will be subtitled, as I doubt it world make much sense otherwise. That being the case, Spanish speakers will get more out of the movie than English speakers.
 
Given that the film is being streamed and that Spanish is the third or forth most popular language in the world (who often speak some English as well) I don't suppose the lack of subtitles will really matter. In fact the lack of subtitles could actually boost viewing numbers in some countries IMO.
 
I don't mind musicals, I grew up watching Fiddler on the Roof, Calamity Jane, Oliver! etc. I particularly liked West Side Story. I own it on Blu-ray and even today I like it, though I don't love it. I didn't love Spielberg's version either, despite the slick camera work and good actors. I just don't see the point of it, sorry. I tried to like it but couldn't. My wife who didn't like the Robert Wise version couldn't stand this new version, she said it was like it was plodding along from scene to scene for over 150 mins.. I think if you allow yourself to be invested in the characters of Tony and Maria and love the songs you'll enjoy this version. But if you don't.. 6/10
 
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