Handsomely made but emotionally flat, West Side Story as told by blockbusting king of the box office Steven Spielberg plays like a slick, overproduced cover album. The songs are all there but they’ve been blown out to oblivion by overproduction, chasing technical mastery but never stopping to consider the why of it all. Like when a favorite band finally hits it big and subsequently loses the very sound that made them unique and your favorite band in the first place. There are no imperfections and, in effect, no spark. One would sound silly calling it “selling out” but there’s a similarly disappointing energy that washes over the viewer expecting a vibrant new take on timeless material only to rub up against a flashy reskin of a classic, sans any discernible new perspective.

Working from a script from Tony Kushner, 2021’s West Side Story faithfully adapts Stephen Sondheim’s 1957 New York musical but it feels so similar to Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins’ beloved 1961 version that you’ll have to do a side-by-side comparison to note the narrative fractures. Spielberg updates a few critical features along the way – having Maria played by a Hispanic actress rather than a white one, chief among them – but his cut of West Side Story lacks a point of view and purpose. Yes, this is evidently Spielberg’s personal favorite musical and the first he’s ever directed. And yes, he spiffs it up and ensures that every little detail is up to the highest of standards, but one is unmistakably left with the impression that the whole is never greater than the sum of its parts.

Every dance fight, every flash mob, every belted ballad is choreographed to the nines. Every little detail is thought through. Perhaps to death. The combination of dazzling dance numbers, brightly colored costumes, and technically-top-notch renditions of Sondheim’s tunes begin to feel like a peacock-colored distraction that covers the gaping lack of soul at this remake’s center. How else could something so technically masterful evoke so little emotion? Perhaps there’s just something inherently uninteresting about watching a man with all the resources in the world at his disposal lead a trope to a layup victory.

The narrative beats remain largely unchanged. Maria (Rachel Zegler) is Puerto Rican. Tony (Ansel Elgort) is a West Side New York native. She has ties to the street gang The Sharks through her boxing brother Bernardo (David Alvarez). He has ties to rivaling street gang The Jets through his best friend Riff (Mike Faist). Their love is forbidden and throws both their worlds into upheaval but it cannot be denied. Blood is spilled. A Romeo and Juliet romance hath never seemed so juvenile.

Newcomer Zegler is strong and Elgort handles a warble better than expected but there’s no peaks and valleys to their relationship. There’s a flash of chemistry there but it’s never excavated and shined to a sparkle. Instead, their one-night infatuation seems hollow, immature. A fault of the original story, no doubt, but one would have hoped that Kushner could have punched this up in his edit. A lack of investment in their childish one-night stand stays the movie’s overall emotional impact. When characters die off and the viewer is still left checking their watch, development and investment has obviously fallen by the wayside.

Spielberg does make at least one bold choice in opting to not have any subtitles for the Spanish language that is frequently spoken throughout – as he thought doing so would unintentionally lend credence to the idea that one side is “more American” and therefore more deserving of being here than the other – but it’ll leave those who aren’t bilingual relying on context clues in some pivotal moments. At least this is a discernible choice in a movie weirdly absent of them.

What becomes more and more clear throughout is that West Side Story is just a simple exercise in commercial appeal. There’s no more artistry present here than there is in a manufactured supergroup assigned to sing the biggest hits of all-time. It’s excellence on autopilot. The film is sure to make a fortune at the box office and has already won critical adoration but for those like me who find themselves technically impressed but trying to puzzle out why this version of West Side Story isn’t making you feel anything, just remember: you’re not alone.

CONCLUSION: Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story is a definitional remake, one that pays too close attention to making every single element sing while forgetting to have a point of view, a soul. Technically impressive across many levels, this musical rendition nevertheless is one long emotionally flat plateau.