So I thought this was going to be horrible and embarrassing and completely unnecessary… but then I read a lot of reviews that were like “I thought this was going to be horrible and embarrassing and completely unnecessary, but it’s actually really good.” So I watched it, and reluctantly I have to say: It’s actually really good.

So to start with, I think you have to kind of bracket the whole existence of this thing as a point of objection. Yes, this is still the original ’60s story with all its weirdnesses and a lot of its problems; yes, Spielberg and Kushner aren’t exactly the people you’d look to if you wanted to make the movie more authentic in its Puerto Rican representation (though I think it ends up as more authentic than the old one pretty much by default; Natalie Wood putting on a fake accent is setting a low bar). If you want to ask the question about whether this Spielberg-driven remake should exist at all, well, that’s pretty much where I started, and I get it if people stay there.

But so if you take the remake’s existence as a given, then there’s the question of what it’s doing that the original 1961 film didn’t do, of how it can justify itself artistically. Because, I mean, the original is really iconic in its bright colorful visuals and choreography, and how is Spielberg going to make something that doesn’t look like a pale imitation of that?

As it turns out, what Spielberg and Kushner do is to make it feel more like a movie, and less like an adapted play. Some of this is setting scenes more in specific, concrete places, rather than the suggestive outlines of places. Some of this is making it a bit more psychologically realistic. The changes aren’t large ones, for the most part, but in small ways they draw out the motivations and connective plot tissue that was only gestured at in the original, as well as making it feel much more grounded in the physical reality of this space that the rival gangs are fighting over.

(One of the things that’s surprising about the changes is that a lot of them are moving songs around. Like, they move “Cool” to before the big rumble, and that’s enough to totally change the meaning of it, and it makes far more sense there. Watching it here, I was like “ah, I finally understand what this song is doing in this movie.”)

Still, it remains the same Romeo-and-Juliet-inspired story that it was, and certain implausible elements of it remain, like Maria sleeping with Tony right after he kills her brother. And while they try to move a little off the “I saw you and fell in love instantly, and now we must spend our lives together despite not having ever had a conversation” thing — they actually go on a date together! — it still comes off as very storybooky in a way that arguably feels weirder when combined with the more realistic elements elsewhere.

But beyond the reworkings, this is also just really well done. Spielberg is obviously a master of his craft, and he and Janusz Kamiński create a look for this movie that’s distinctly not the original but also is distinctly hyper-stylized, with a lot of light and shadow and dramatic perspectives. The actors all do a great job in their roles; Ariana DeBose is the standout as Anita (to the point that early on, I kept forgetting Tony and Maria are the nominal protagonists — tbf, also a problem with the original), but even the Tony actor brings more charisma to the role than the 1961 guy. Oh, and Rita Moreno as the Doc character (she plays his widow) adds new elements to the story that I think work well, in addition to being a connection to the original.

So yeah, unexpectedly and reluctantly, I have to admit that this is a really well-done remake that actually brings a new perspective on the characters and the story, and has its own unique style that’s distinctively unlike the original. This is pretty much the model for what I want a remake to be. Recommended to anyone who likes the original enough to be interested in another take on the same material.