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StrongRex's Replies
Well, at least we have MovieChat now, and they were able to recover at least a good portion of the discussions if not all of them.
Cinderella the live action remake was made because Disney is hell-bent on this new trend. They seem to want to remake everything they've done for a cheap cash grab - everything they've done up to this year alone is nothing compared to what else they have planned. Just look at their list of planned productions on Wikipedia - it's mostly remakes, sequels, and spin-offs rather than original content. It's not that they can't afford to take risks - come on, they're a multi-billion dollar industry, they most certainly can. They would just rather take the easy way out and get millions of dollars with little effort.
I don't buy it when people say Hollywood has run out of ideas. There are tons of stories out there they haven't done yet that they could pick from books, classic or modern, plays, operas, short stories, etc. They're more interested in cashing in on the success of hit blockbuster movies from the past. That's why there's sequels and remakes - they're choosing not to do anything creative or anything they hadn't done before.
They could even choose from non-celebrity, regular people who write scripts because they love movies and have ideas. Heck, even some people on YouTube produce better content than a lot of film studios - they could negotiate and sign contracts with them!
And I'm not putting much stock in Steven Spielberg - not all the movies he's made have been masterpieces, or even very good. In fact, some of them have been downright horrible.
So wait - Rita Moreno is replacing Doc?
And that's why WSS shouldn't be remade. All the things the 1961 movie got right the remake is likely to mess it all up by making it like the inferior stage show. I don't care that Steven Spielberg is in charge. Even though he's known for making some real masterpieces, he's made some pretty bad movies too. I have no reason to believe that they won't go by the stage show this time - the one thing I might look forward to seeing is how they might do the Somewhere ballet onscreen.
Apparently this site has a tighter character limit than IMDb had, which left me less room to talk about America.
America...OMG...what were Laurents, Bernstein, and Sondheim THINKING?!?! In the movie it's one of the BEST songs, but it's quite the opposite in the stage show. Yes, I'm going as far as to say America is the worst song in the stage show. Why? Because it's so boring and one-sided! I mean, the dialogue working up to that scene onstage is about the same as the movie, and then Bernardo and his Sharks just LEAVE, and it's the Shark girls alone onstage. The writers cheated us out of a really juicy scene with these boys and girls! Once again, the way it is written and performed in the movie is what America SHOULD have been onstage. It's a fun, exciting song and dance number that gave some women the chance to perform AND engage with the Shark boys who otherwise don't do much in the stage show except dance, look intimidating, and fight with the Jets. Bernardo also suffered the short end of the stick on character development too - he was given a much better chance to shine in the movie.
I mean, all the Shark girls are in love with America except Rosalia, and she's the only one they're pitted against?? Really? We're supposed to find a dozen girls mocking one homesick girl entertaining? Seriously? This scene might have worked if there were at least several more girls on Rosalia's side and the girls who were on the side of America didn't have such an unfair advantage. This conflict goes nowhere else in the plot and it's just as well because we don't care as much about the Shark girls as we do the gang - it's their story, so why were they not originally written in this musical number? Movie America expands on why they hate the country they immigrated to, does an amazing job of showing and not telling, and onstage that’s non-existent. Plus, the lyrics, like the dialogue, were awkward, rushed, choppy, and pathetic. Not to mention that the Jets already dominate the story more than the Sharks even in the movie, and the way this scene is written in the stage show gives the Shark boys even less to do!
The lyrics in the movie's version of America were wittier and much more clever. It also makes much more sense because we know the Shark boys hate America in the stage show too. It doesn't force the situation by forcing Bernardo to leave before the song. It further develops the scene by having him stay, and actually letting him have a singing part. The show tells you that Bernardo is a lead role, and yet he doesn't sing once by himself. Not only that, but Bernardo is a much more one-dimensional character in the stage show - he doesn't even have the tenderness and love towards his sister, at least not at the same level. The part where they tease each other in the bridal shop and hug before the dance? Gone. In fact, he acts more possessive of Maria in the stage show rather than over-protective. The scene where he takes the time with her in her room to explain where he's coming from in a way he believes she will understand? Non-existent!
He didn't have that many lines at the beginning of the movie, but in the stage show's beginning he has even less lines, and none of them define his character. He doesn't mock Krupke by saying nothing is impossible in America, and he doesn't get to say his best line of all in that scene to Schrank (Would you mind translating that into Spanish?). Schrank just tells him and his gang to leave after one of his tirades against the Jets and calls them trash, making Schrank even more of a racist douche, this time more unprovoked because Bernardo doesn't act like a smart aleck to him. The character defining moments for Bernardo are even less throughout the whole stage show. The only line he was given in the stage show that outshines its parallel in the movie and really defines his character is what he says to Riff about shaking hands before the rumble. In the movie he just turns him down in a direct, no-nonsense way but in the stage show, he comes down HARD and just blows the whole issue out of the water. He should have had more moments like that.
Another reason I wish directors could have more freedom about what they could change in the show is because you may have one or two movies based on a stage play, but that play will be performed hundreds, thousands, millions of times over with many different casts and people will be seeing that far more often. That fact does shows like West Side Story a huge disservice - the movie makes much more sense in terms of story, three of the songs are much better placed in the show, and one of the songs was given a complete 180 in the right direction - the movie PERFECTED that song! (Among everything else.)
Oh, the blooper. I thought you meant an actual scene from the movie.
Eh, I'm not going to miss it. As a kid it didn't really make me laugh - I didn't understand what Stinky Pete was talking about actually - and there's lots of other funny ones.
I kept waiting for Woody and Bo to kiss in this movie and it didn't happen.