El Rebooto

 

Nobody was more skeptical about a new screen edition of "West Side Story" than me.   Why?   That was the question that kept coming to me.   I mean, sixty years ago, it won the Oscar for Best Picture along with a bunch of other categories.   Is there a point to this?

Well, apparently, yes.   Because somehow and some way director Steven Spielberg has pulled it off.  The 2021 edition of "West Side Story" seems fresh and new, even though the story is as familiar as...well...Romeo and Juliet.

Indeed, Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner has ramped this up to 2021 expectations.    The Hispanic characters are really played by Hispanics and not White folk with quick tanning bases.   And there is a little preaching about diversity.   But, at the end of 2 and a 1/2 hours, the story still is the focus.   And, by setting this back in the 60s, you had the historical perspective that a modernized version would probably ruin.

All of the beats and the production numbers are intact, even though some of the latter are moved around in sequence when compared to the original stage and screen mountings.   And the character of Doc the druggist has been replaced by his wife Valentina, played to the hilt by Rita Moreno.   The marketing department is working overtime to grab an Oscar nomination for Rita, so they can say she won an Academy Award for two versions of the same movie.   Moreno's participation (along with her Executive Producer credit) is significantly beefed up but not to distraction.

Where the 2021 reboot excels in comparison to the original movie is with the castings of the leads.   With all due respect to Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood, Ansel Elgort and Rachel Ziegler really look more like Tony and Maria.   And, thankfully, they can both sing and there is no need for the dubbing department.  My one issue with Ziegler is that, with her hair tied back, she has an incredible likeness to that political whore Alexandria Ocassio- Cortez.   But, after you get over that annoyance, you totally buy her performance.   And pray that maybe she runs for Congress.

The production is completely top notch with the NY and LA Philharmonic doing the music.   The locations were amazingly accurate.  This is a movie that needs to be seen in a theater.   Truly, the money is on the screen.

But, sadly, the money is not at the box office.  The movie has bombed in its first weekends of release.   The rationale is that this is for old people only.

But, if kids would only give it a chance...  I mean, you need to see it simply as a final homage to Stephen Sondheim who supposedly saw the film and approved it before he died.

If he was happy with the outcome, he should be.

LEN'S RATING:  Four stars.

Dinner last night:  Grilled Taylor Ham.