Featured photo by Mean Girls
Story by Larry Rincon
In the past few months, “Wonka,” “The Color Purple” and “Mean Girls” have caused studios to shift to new business tactic.
Musical films have a bad reputation in pop culture to the point where studios and producers stop mentioning their film is a musical. This new tactic to mask films as something they’re not is an attempt to gain more viewership, but in the end this infuriates the audience more.
The 2024 “Mean Girls” is one of the most recent examples of this. Many audience members were excited to see a remake of the beloved 2004 film, but they ended up walking out the moment the actors started singing.
Musicals have always been a hit or a miss when it comes to film and television, and as someone who quite regularly enjoys musicals, I was somewhat disappointed with the new “Mean Girls” film.
From the perspective of someone who wanted a musical version of the original movie, the new adaptation was not faithful in the slightest.
If you’re familiar with the original movie, Regina George was always meant to be the queen bee persona with a fake, manipulative attitude. When you compare the old Regina to the new Regina, the new one feels a little too human. The snake-like personality is gone, and suddenly I was just watching typical high schoolers be immature.
The new Cady Heron also fails to live up to the original Cady. The new “Mean Girls” made Cady far too soft-spoken. Even when she was slowly taking on the position of the new queen bee, Cady didn’t feel like a duplicate of Regina. It seemed like they tried to go for the sweet girl facade when Cady was taking Regina down, but her mean scenes lacked the bite and snark that the original movie had.
The biggest disappointment in this film was the scene where Regina starts writing in the Burn Book after finding out Cady was the one who purposely sabotaged her life. Not all of the original words were there, and I could barely tell Regina was upset.
On the other hand, if I looked at the new “Mean Girls” as if it were only an adaptation of the Broadway musical, the movie was okay. The songs were fun and catchy, and the dancing felt appropriate and not over the top.
I had never heard the musical before, but the scenes with songs added to the emphasis on certain character traits. “Apex Predator” sold me on Regina being the top dog at the school, and “Stupid With Love” showed how much Cady fell for Aaron in their first meeting.
Fans of the Broadway musical, however, might disagree. According to online fans, a lot of the original emotion is lost. The casting choice for Cady caused an uproar among netizens who felt that the new Cady lacked the vocal attitude the Broadway Cady had. In fact, a lot of netizen reactions concluded that the new “Mean Girls” felt like a Disney version of the Broadway musical.
It is difficult to find a good musical movie these days, and when actual Broadway musicals are turned into films, there are high expectations. The 2024 “Mean Girls” was another flop for the start of the year, but it might still be worth a watch.
If you want some fun and a way to turn off your brain, this movie might just be for you. Regardless of the negative responses to the film, someone can enjoy this new version of the Plastics.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Destiny Mizell and Assistant Lifestyles Editor Shamani Salahuddin, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, or follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines or on X at @MTSUSidelines.
