Arts & Culture
Best Theme Park? (Poll)
Means Girls the Musical Movie
Best Theme Park?
By Anthony Vu April 18, 2024
Provide your vote for what you think is the best theme park after looking through this form and seeing their ratings in topics on a scale of 1-5 with stars.
After you finish the poll, you can review it and see what others say.
Mean Girls (2024)
Mean Girls The Musical Movie
By Katherine Huynh April 18, 2024
Iconic early 2000’s fashion, an unstoppable queen bee, "Jingle Bell Rock," and of course, pink on Wednesdays! What other classic film could this be if not Mean Girls (2004)! Many have come to love this girlie high school drama written by Tina Fey and directed by Mark Waters for its unforgettable early 2000s atmosphere. But have you ever imagined how it would play out when put into a modern setting? Look no further than Mean Girls (2024)! Under the same name, it still details the life of Cady Heron and her high school experience but under a modern lens.
Mean Girls (2004)
Background
While everyone knows and loves the original 2004 film, many seem to forget the stage play musical also under the same name. With its first show on October 31, 2017, the Means Girls musical follows a similar storyline to the original movie with musical numbers sprinkled all the way through. It is this musical that soon became the inspiration for the 2024 version of the film. Alongside that, did you know that the original Mean Girls by Fey is an adaptation rather than an original? While a loose adaptation, the film is an adaptation of the self-help book Queen Bees and Wannabes written by Rosalind Wiseman.
Media reception
Many assumed the 2024 version of Mean Girls to be a remake of the original rather than a musical, causing uproar upon its release. A majority of watchers found the musical numbers to be unsettling and out of place. This caused many to not enjoy the film, especially those who compared it to its former counterparts. As for fans of the musical, many thought that the film did not capture the essence of the songs. Eighth grader Annalee Lopez expressed, “The songs lost their liveliness and energy… Renee Rapp was the only good thing about the film.” As of now, it has a 2.8/5 rating on the film rating app Letterboxd.
Writers Thoughts
As a fan of musicals myself, I was open to the idea of many musical numbers. Does it live up to the original musical? Absolutely not! But, I would not say it's a terrible movie either. While it may not live up to the original, the catchy song lyrics stayed the same. One saving factor I will say is the charming actors. The actors that stood out most to me were Renee Rapp as Regina George, Avantika Vandanapu as Karen Shetty, and Auli'i Cravalho as Janice Ian. All the other actors did an amazing job as well!
Final Rating
If I were to give this movie a final rating, I would give it 6 paws out of 10 for general audiences and 7 paws out of 10 for fans of the Mean Girls franchise. If you are looking for a fun lighthearted film to watch, this Mean Girls rendition is your movie!