As a devout fan of the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story who saw a TV program not long ago that emphasized the comparisons of the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story and Spielberg's new West Side Story film version, who's also seen a couple of the trailers and afew extra photographs and, who, just out of curiosity, listened to the entire soundtrack of Spielberg's new West Side Story film version on youtube, I stand by my preference for the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story.
The new West Side Story seems way overdone, the dancing too hyped up, the colors too jarring in some places, and way too dark in others, and the backdrop scenes in the new West Side Story, imho, look far more like the tonier, wealthier parts of the city, rather than the impoverished, rough-and-rundown parts of the city.
The soundtrack of the new West Side Story is very metallic-sounding, and flat in a lot of places, and the singing in both the leads are overrated, imho; Ansel Elgort doesn't have such a great singing voice, nor does he have the looks, charm or the personality of an ex-gangmember. Rachel Zegler's voice is also quite nasal in a lot of places, as well.
The Jets and Sharks in the new West Side Story, themselves, look too much like the newsie boys, and their girls look far more like wealthy suburban prep-school girls who are dressed to the nines for partying all over town than a bunch of gangsters' girlfriends.
The part of Rita Moreno as Doc's widow seems kind of out of her league, given Rita Moreno's overall looks and personality, plus I really don't think that she looks very attractive in this film. Her singing of "Somewhere" seems rather off, too, as it was meant to be sung by Tony and Maria.
I really do think that changing the story of Tony--i. e. making him into a thug who was on parole from prison for assault and attempted murder, and for making the Sharks more upstanding and better behaved than the white European-American Jets was kind of far-fetched as well, because imho, in reality, since the violence between two gangs claimed lives on both sides, both the Jets and the Sharks do bear responsibility.
I have admittedly always had a gut reaction against remakes of good older classic films, generally, especially something such as West Side Story, by anybody, including Steven Spielberg.
Given the stuff that's come out about Ansel Elgort (i. e. the grooming and sexual assault of underaged girls), and being a woman, I'm inclined to believe the women who came forward after being sexually assaulted and groomed by Ansel Elgort. One more thing I've also got to say is that the new West Side Story feels forced, totally unnatural and wrong to me, and not at all like West Side Story.
I like the fact that in the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story, the "America" scene was done on a tenement rooftop, and that the "Cool" scene was done in a garage, after the rumble and the killings.
The fact that Anybodys was made into a transgender person in the new West Side Story feels all wrong to me, too. I prefer the Anybodys, who was a girl, but just a tomboy who proved that she was a girl who could take care of herself to the Jets, hereby ultimately winning acceptance among the Jets. After all, in real life, there are plenty of straight tough girls who are able to take care of themselves, and have proved it. I've known a few girls/women like that. I loved it, when in the original West Side Story film version, Anybodys got all dreamy-eyed when Ice, who'd taken over the Jet gang leadership after Riff's death during the Rumble, said to her, "Hey--ya done good, buddy-boy!, and that Anybody's, who got all dreamy-eyed said in response to Ice "Thanks, Daddy-o!"
I can get a good idea of whether or not I'll want to see a movie by seeing trailers and previews of a given move and/or listening to the soundtrack, as well. The stuff that came out about Ansel Elgort also stiffened my resolve to vote my pocketbook snd take a hard pass on Spielberg's West Side Story, and not go to see it, under any circumstances.
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