[Genuine Realist]

I didn't dislike the West Side Story remake, but found it too heavily weighted. 

It's easy to forget, beyond the sensational score and choreography, that West Side Story is not a particularly good musical. The book is a joke, Tony is a complete stick (no matter who plays him), and the vehicle was never intended as a cultural or social commentary. It was a success d'estime on Broadway in 1957 and lost most of the Tony Awards ,(rightly) to The Music Man (IIRC).

I ultimately decided I preferred the 1961 version, for two reasons - it preserved Robbins' choreography and the young Rita Moreno, who blazed off the screen.

[Genuine Realist]

I didn't dislike the West Side Story remake, but found it too heavily weighted. 

It's easy to forget, beyond the sensational score and choreography, that West Side Story is not a particularly good musical. The book is a joke, Tony is a complete stick (no matter who plays him), and the vehicle was never intended as a cultural or social commentary. It was a success d'estime on Broadway in 1957 and lost most of the Tony Awards ,(rightly) to The Music Man (IIRC).

I ultimately decided I preferred the 1961 version, for two reasons - it preserved Robbins' choreography and the young Rita Moreno, who blazed off the screen.