Steven Speilberg’s 2021 version of West Side Story is officially a hit on Rotten Tomatoes. As of writing this, West Side Story (2021) has an official score of 93% on the “Tomatometer” with a total of forty-four critic reviews submitted – and an only an astounding three of those reviews sit at the “Rotten” end of the scale! The new take on the classic is “an adaptation of the 1957 musical, West Side Story explores forbidden love and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds.” In this case, the conflict is between Irish and Spanish gangs, but the story about the transcendence of love is all the same.
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Check out a sampling of the good and bad things critics are saying about West Side Story (2021), on Rotten Tomatoes:
This Story Still Sings
Entertainment Weekly says,”It feels like a rare achievement to even attempt to scale the unscalable and still, after more than half a century, be able to make it sing.”
No Idea We Needed This
Time Magazine‘s Stephanie Zacharek was pleasantly taken back by how much she needed a new version of West Side Story‘s tale of race and love: “I had no idea I needed this West Side Story until I saw it. This, possibly, is the best kind of movie, the stealth achievement that has been hiding in plain sight all along.”
Infectious Fun
Variety’s Owen Glelberman is feeling the love and fun come through the screen: “Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ has a brash effervescence. You can feel the joy he got out of making it, and the kick is infectious.”
Beautiful Ode to Sondheim
Vanity Fair‘s Richard Lawson sees West Side Story as a timely and fitting ode to Stephen Sondheim, who just recently passed away. Sondheim of course provided lyrics for the original West Side Story, working alongside Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, and Jerome Robbins: “Spielberg and Kushner have done justice to what Bernstein, Robbins, and the quite recently late Stephen Sondheim made all those years ago-not subverting its enduring value, but rather, with fire and grace, doing so much to earn it.”
Beautiful Ode to Spielberg
New York Post‘s Johnny Oleksinski thinks West Side Story is a great reminder that Steven Spielberg is one of the greats: “It’s the “ET” director’s most visually exciting film in a zillion years.”
They Have Gumption
LA Times critic Justin Chang thinks its the sheer enthusiams of the cast and crew that makes this film work: “Conviction – a commitment that can’t be faked, and a quality by which every musical lives or dies – is what underpins, energizes and ultimately justifies this ‘West Side Story.’”
Found It Lacking
Across the pond they are not as impressed, as Independent UK asks the somewhat damning question: “How can a film look this good, feel so moving, and still come up lacking?”
See For Yourself
West Side Story stars Ansel Elgort as Tony, Ariana DeBose as Anita, and David Alvarez as Bernardo. Rita Moreno, Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for the original Best Picture-winning film, also makes a cameo appearance as Valentina. Brian d’Arcy Corey Stoll, Mike Faist also co-star. Steven Spielberg directs from a screenplay by Tony Kushner.
The film will be in theaters on December 10th.
