Review | West Side Story movie review: Steven Spielberg remake offers a respectable encore to the classic musical
- Set in the 1950s, this remake doesn’t offer a radical rethink of the Romeo and Juliet-inspired love story set in New York gangland
- The choreography is bright and Ariana DeBose, as the sassy Anita, absolutely crushes ‘America’, but on the whole the singing is a notch below the original
3.5/5 stars
Set in the 1950s, just as the original 1961 film by Robert Wise was, Spielberg’s movie could hardly be accused of offering up a radical rethink. This New York story juggles a few elements, including one significant character switch, but it largely feels like a more expansive retread.
The story follows two rival street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks, whose very existence is threatened by urban development on the Upper West Side.
The Jets are run by Riff (Mike Faist) and Tony (Ansel Elgort), while the Puerto Rican-born Sharks are led by Bernardo (David Alvarez), brother to the young Maria (Rachel Zegler) and boyfriend to the sassy Anita (Ariana DeBose).
While Maria is courted by the young Chino (Josh Andrés Rivera), she spies Tony across a crowded room at a local dance – and sparks fly.