The new Mean Girls movie, released January 12, 2024, is a new-gen reenactment of the original movie released in 2004.
20 years of new clothing, trends, and evolution set the road for a new movie, showcasing new and improved characters and their quirks. Much has changed since 2004, yet Tina Fey who played Ms. Nordburry, and Tim Meadows who played Principal Duvall looked the same as they did 20 years ago. The main character of the film, Cady Heron, who was played by Angourie Rice, follows her life almost spot on. Her crush, outlook on school, plus the playout of the film are very similar.
New actors playing the four “Plastics” and the two best friends of Cady Heron, rope the audience in with new faces playing the same personalities. Janis Sarkisian, played by Auli’i Cravalho in the 2024 movie, gives off the same punk/alternative vibe as before. Auli’i portrayed Janis’s revenge and angst perfectly as displayed in the first movie, mirroring her ‘I don’t care’ attitude and character. Jaquel Spivey, as Damian Hubbard, was too perfectly played, and his personality and sassiness reinvented and characterized Damian in a new way. The two stars as the best friends couldn’t have been more perfectly picked.
The movie starts out and plays in much of the same way as the 2004 movie, aside from many scenes of added songs and solos sung by the popular characters. Across the movie, 12 songs were soloed or sung with someone else. Most of the songs were written and sung by Reneè Rapp, aka the new Regina George. Giving the same sass and jaw-dropping demeanor proved to be a breeze for Reneè. Her best friends in the movie, Gretchen Weiners who was played by Bebe Woods, and Karen Shetty, played by Avantika Vandanapu, looked just as jaw-dropping and mirrored the personalities of the 2004 versions just as well.
Overall, the movie was captivating and interesting. Although a musical version of the movie wasn’t expected, it added much more character to each of the actors. The movie gathered laughs during many scenes and portrayed the teens of 2024 very accurately, considering the 2004 movie had portrayed them very stereotypically during that time. The addition of phones and new slang to the movie showed the progression and new age of films.
The movie deserves a four out of five-star rating. Overall, it is an enjoyable movie, but some parts, as for any film, have moments that make one want to cringe. The 2024 Mean Girls is an excellent movie to watch and just as interesting as the 2004 movie
