Ray J's Review - Steven Spielberg's "West Side Story" (2021)

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I've never seen the original 1961 version of "West Side Story"....

IN FULL at least😅 I began to watch about an hour of it this weekend, but never did finish it...I stopped right after the "Gee, Office Krupke" scene.

While I probably have no right comparing the two versions (since one of them I've only seen partially) I can testify that Steven Spielberg's 2021 adaptation does a fantastic job of not rushing the plot, which I could tell was happening in the 1961 version. From what I also saw of West Side Story 1961, I could tell here that Spielberg changes things up visually in 2021 (and thrillingly at that) quite a bit....which is a great thing!!

"West Side Story" revolves around Tony (played by Ansel Elgort), and Maria (played by Rachel Zegler). Two young, but divided hearts in love...having to keep their forbidden & controversial romance under wraps from two rival New York street gangs, The Jets & Sharks (both of different ethnicities, White, and Puerto Rican respectively). Both have loved ones apart of the gangs, Tony's troubled best friend Riff, (played by Mike Faist) is the new leader of the Jets, and Maria's brother Bernardo (played by David Alvarez) is the leader of the Sharks. As tensions continue to rise between the Jet's and the Sharks, Tony and Maria's love only grows stronger, but unfortunately their romance is just adding more fuel to violent fire that is brewing😔

I was entranced by Steven Spielberg's 2021 adaptation of "West Side Story", which is more than I can say for what I watched of the original😅 It still takes a little while to get going, and to get to all of the characters, but Spielberg's masterful direction is mesmerizing, and the music numbers are everything a musical lover could ask for....OMG🤩💃🕺😍

The choreography, and clever cinematic tricks used in the musical numbers are genius! My personal favorite musical numbers are, "America", (which is even bigger and better than in the original, I can tell you that for sure) "Cool", "Gee, Officer Krupke", "I Feel Pretty" "Something's Coming", and of course "The Dance At The Gym" scene is so much fun! Rachel Zegler, who plays Maria, has an absolutely stunning singing voice. Like wow🤯👏👏 Even Ansel Elgort, who I'm sure many people will recognize (from such films as "The Fault In Our Stars", and "Baby Driver") has an incredible singing voice also! He has some really great dance/electronic original songs on streaming, and digital music services that I highly recommend as well...you gotta check out his single "Home Alone"...SO GOOD!

As far as acting performances...they are all outstanding. THE standout of the whole film for me would have to be Ariana DeBose (as Anita). Such a powerful, emotional performance, and will most likely leave many in tears. Speaking of tears, Rita Moreno (who originally played the role of Anita in the 1961 film), returns to play Valentina (whom is a reimagining of the character "Doc" from the original movie), and does an incredible job doing so! I also thought Rachel Zegler was absolutely stunning in this whole entire film, and her screen presence just beams through✨

Consensus: "West Side Story" is just the kind of movie you yearn to see on the big screen during the holidays✨💚❤️💃🕺🎶🎬 Cleverly shot & choreographed music numbers - a classic story re-envisioned! I highly recommend👍👍

The Ray J's Review is:

5 out of 5 lime green hearts

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