Welcome to The Morning After, where I share with you what movies I’ve seen over the past week. Below, you will find short reviews of those movies along with a star rating. Full length reviews may come at a later date.

So, here is what I watched this past week:

West Side Story

On the Broadway stage, a revival is meant to explore an older show and look at it through a more modern lens. In cinema, such efforts are often met with derision or otherwise pale in comparison to their originals. Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story brings the story of two rival gangs on the streets of New York as they fight for dominance in what feels like a more significant fit in our modern political landscape than it was when it was originally brought to the screen in 1961.

Based on the William Shakespeare play Romeo & Juliet, the show pits the Sharks, a group of Puerto Rican immigrants, against the Jets, a white gang who resents the Spanish-speaking transplants for invading their space. Ansel Elgort plays Tony, former leader of the Jets who went to prison for almost killing a Egyptian immigrant in a rumble a year earlier. Rachel Zegler is the sister of Shark Bernardo (David Alvarez) who resents the Jets for their privilege. Throw in Ariana DeBose as Bernardo’s girlfriend Anita, Mike Faist as the Jet’s new leader Riff, and Rita Moreno as Tony’s benefactor, and you have a tremendous cast of young (and old) talents that pull the audience into their narrative.

That narrative, written by Tony Kushner, understands its place in a modern day milieu. While the film is set in the New York City of the past, the parallels between entitled white youths and their vitriol spewed at their fellow Americans come out loud and clear. This is why some films can be remade without tarnishing the original. Spielberg has never directed a full blown musical before, but you wouldn’t know it from his framing and attentive pacing. While there are some questionable choices at times, his conviction is so palpable that the viewer can take those moments in stride.

Elgort has a firm singing voice, but he once again proves that he has an all-too-limited range as an actor. The remainder of the cast, both in terms of performance and in terms of singing capabilities make his efforts feel like they come from a whole other movie. DeBose is a tour de force in the role that won her co-star Moreno an Oscar. She tackles the role with passion while Moreno gives it her empathetic all, pulling some of the easiest tears in the film. Faist and Alvarez also bring their A games while Zegler does well, but like Natalie Wood in the original, never finds a way to stand out against a significantly better supporting cast.

Encanto

Disney/Pixar’s third feature release this year is its best. Encanto tells the story of a magical candle that has protected the denizens of a peaceful valley from violent intruders for decades. It embodies the house in which the Madrigal family lives, as well as the family itself, with special powers. That is everyone in the family except one person: Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz). Mirabel is a considerate, passionate member of the family in spite of never having received powers. As her young cousin Antonio approaches the age at which he should receive his magic, Mirabel wants nothing more than for it to be a success, but a strange vision that suggests the house is about to crumble sets the entire family off-kilter and their worst fears begin to materialize.

Lin-Manuel Miranda provides the songs for this film and they are some of his most catchy tunes. From the song of caution, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” to the subtle lullaby “Dos Oruguitas” to the beat heavy “Surface Pressure,” there aren’t a lot of songs, but they are surprisingly all magical, like the film itself. The vocal work in the film is superb, bringing the audience along for an involving narrative that asks them to understand what it means to be family and how difficult it can be to find one’s place when outside forces seem insistent on asserting their influence.

Encanto is the latest Disney effort that shakes off the tropes of the traditional fairy tale-inspired storyline in favor of searching for meaning in the more compelling ways. By exploring the notion of family, they keep connected to their familiar and beloved roots while taking audiences on unfamiliar journeys. By also highlighting cultures that many viewers may not be well versed in, they create a foundation from which younger generations can become more accepting and tolerant individuals. That alone is worth the price of admission.