Donna Adelman

Like most postings on here, I am a die hard fan of the original to the point I was not sure I wanted to see this version. I am so glad I did as it was definitely worth it. Steven Spielberg stated in an interview what a huge fan of the original he was and it shows. Each actor was perfect for the character they played. I liked the they looked younger then the original cast as it made it more realistic as they were only suppose to be teenagers. Most seemed to have theater background which showed in the dancing and singing that at times surpassed the original. They also did their own singing but that was the way it was back then. Also I know this was taken more from the play. I know most will not agree with me but I did not love America like I did in the original. I liked that it was before the dance and was not done in the morning . They seemed too dressed up where it made sense they would be in the original as it was before the dance. Also the banter between the original Bernardo and Anita was a little more biting and funnier . The dancing and singing was beautifully done and far more colorful but it lost something for me in translation. The only other part I missed was the dance at the gym as that is just such a stand out scene in the original and felt it was way to short in this version. I thought Cool was excellent. In the play it was performed before the rumble and sung by Riff. I thought it made sense the way the did it with Tony and Riff. It showed the cracks in the relationship and how unaccepting Riff was of change. I also thought the rumble was much better in this version as I did not like all the dancing the original. This seemed much more realistic and extremely well acted by all. I have to say Riff was always my favorite and although different from the original Micheal Faists interpretation was incredible in showing a mixture of being fearless and hopeless especially in the scene when purchasing the gun. I am shocked he is up up for a Golden Globe. I liked that there were no sub titles as they were not needed as it was easy to understand what they were saying even if you don’t know Spanish. He did clean up a lot of the racial slang on both sides . It had to be in there as it was part of the story and showed both gangs had prejudices against each other. It still is very relevant to what is happening today. Overall I feel this is as good as the original and if you are a fan of the prior you will be very happy with this version. You can tell all the hard work that went into this version and it will not disappoint.