The movie has been taking all sorts of hits by critics, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Bottom line: it was pretty amazing.
The movie offers, by the nature of cinematography, an opportunity to develop characters as well as present locations and scenery to enhance to story experience. And, really, I think it delivered. The music from the original musical was presented in a clever way through moving scenes of high school life and flashbacks to character's pasts, all things the musical simply cannot effectively do on stage. The vocal performances of the actors were just as stellar as in the musical.
And yeah, Ben Platt is a 27 year old playing a high school senior. One of the big criticisms of the movie. But Platt still has a boyish charm about him which at least makes it within the outskirts of plausibility. Certainly we've been treated to far worse examples on television of people in their later years playing teenagers on screen.
The movie gives us two brand new songs as well. Which - frankly - weren't particularly necessary. I suppose they exist to further the development of characters which otherwise have little stage/screen time in comparison to the stars of the show. The song performed by Connor, presented as a video file found from someone who had been in rehab with him, at least provides some redemption of the character, who is otherwise presented as someone completely estranged from his family and devoid of all sense of emotional responsibility to his family.
The other song, performed by the girl who is president of the senior class and helps start and run the Connor Project movement after being inspired by Hansen, does give her some vulnerability and commonality with Hansen, as they both apparently suffer from depression and share a moment of spiritual bonding. But, really, it wasn't particularly necessary for development and progress of the story.
The emotion was definitely there - even, I daresay, more so than in the musical. And that, I think, is the backbone of the musical that fueled its amazing reception on the stage. It's certainly what fueled the experience for me, when I saw it live in San Francisco at the end of 2018. Granted, I was in an emotional place back then and ripe for harvesting in that regard. So, yes, it made me cry then. It did so today too. The biggest song for me was and is So Big/So Small. It's very relatable for me. Granted, in a reversed role. I think I've mentioned before on this blog that I've tended to be the wife/mother figure in previous relationships. But anyways. Moving on.
The end of the movie - which in the musical version is quite short by musical finale standards - feels even more truncated than the stage version. The musical uses a reprise of For Forever. The movie uses a reprise of one of the newly composed songs. Honestly...I didn't care for it that much. Too short and not as meaningful, in my opinion. But to each his own. I maybe I just missed this from my one viewing of the musical, but it seems like more time was supposed to have passed before the final scene. In the movie, it's just the end of summer following high school graduation. But maybe I misread that in 2018. Guess I'll have to go see the musical again.
So again, the movie is great, in my opinion. I wouldn't mind seeing it again. And this post ended up being more of a review than I had originally intended. But I don't feel the need to write Dear Glenn Disney letters to myself, as Evan a did as an assignment from his therapist (that set up the whole plot of the show). I mean sure, I've felt alone, and depressed, and so on. Who hasn't at one time or another? But I've never been in need of being found as much as Evan Hansen was. He even admits that he didn't fall from the tree (causing his signature broken arm), but rather he "let go". Was that in the musical? I might have missed that part too...
So. Anyways. Go see the movie.
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