Mean Girls The Musical: Review
By Sioph Leal
Mean Girls returns to the big screen but this time with a musical twist from the comedic mind of Tina Fey to bring a new take to the beloved modern classic. Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) is new to high school and finds herself welcomed into the top of the social food chain by the leader of “The Plastics,” Regina George (Reneé Rapp), and her minions Gretchen (Bebe Wood) and Karen (Avantika). All is well for Cady until she falls for Regina’s ex-boyfriend, Aaron Samuels (Christopher Briney). Joined by her first friends from high school, Janis (Auli’I Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), the three are determined to take down Regina George, while Cady must learn to stay true to herself.
The original 2004 movie is a classic for a reason. It highlights the cutthroat life of high school, in which people either blend in or can risk it all by standing out and being true to themselves. Nothing has changed dramatically from the original movie, only that there are now musical numbers that had the chance of expanding to bigger audiences, but this movie struggles to do that. Fans of the stage show may be disappointed that beloved songs were cut, such as It Roars and Meet the Plastics is changed, only having Rapp’s voice on a song about a trio when it is typically a trio of voices about the Plastics. The new original song that replaced the favourite “It Roars” fails to live up to its predecessor, a shame given that this movie had the potential to be more than a struggle.
The voices of Reneé Rapp and Auli’i Cravalho will astound everyone, and out of the whole cast, these two were the vocal powerhouses of the movie. Unfortunately, they are not the main characters. Casting Cady should have at least someone with a comfortable musical background, and while Rice sings perfectly fine for the movie, the autotune on her voice can be an unwelcome distraction to the movie.
Having two directors for any potential major movie can be a risk, and unfortunately for Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr, it feels like the two had conflicting visions. Given Perez Jr’s background in directing music videos, it made sense as to why the musical numbers of Mean Girls felt as if they were shot like a music video instead of a musical. By shooting the musical numbers in a different way from the rest of the movie, it makes the musical aspect disconnect from the main movie, a move that will turn away fans of the musical and seem like an odd choice for non-musical fans.
Mean Girls: The Musical had the potential to be a hit, but this adaptation of the original 2004 movie fails to find a secure audience. Relying on the nostalgia and fans of the classic movie, this version feels like it's catered more towards the younger tik tok generation. From questionable costume choices of The Plastics to the odd way of shooting and overuse of autotune, Mean Girls: The Musical left us wanting to like this movie a lot more than we did.
Mean Girls will be released in cinemas on January 12 in the US, and January 17 in the UK.