I remember the day that I heard about the Mean Girls Movie. It was almost a year ago, from a post I read on Instagram. It was an exciting day for me personally, as I am a lover of both the original movie and the Broadway musical, and I firmly believe that both are perfectly unique in their own ways. However; the movie adaptation of the musical was a pure disappointment for many reasons. 

They Ruined Cady Heron

There is so much that needs to be said about the awfulness that became of this character in the movie. In the musical, she was enthusiastic and full of quirky energy. Disappointingly, she seems to lack real personality and is rather an NPC. In addition, this movie does what I always dislike about musical adaptations: changes the songs to give them less emotion. I cringed during the song “Stupid With Love” because it seemed like the actress who played Cady was trying harder to sound good than doing her job as an actress. Personally, I found myself crawling with boredom every time Cady opened her mouth, as her take on Cady was unnecessarily dry.

They Excluded Good Songs From The Musical

I won’t complain about Damian’s songs being removed–they aren’t my favorites; however, the fact that they only used Regina’s portion of the song “Meet the Plastics” thoroughly angers me. In addition, the song “Fearless” is missing from the movie. This song more thoroughly shows Cady’s excitement to be the new Queen Bee of the Northshore High. In contrast, the reprise of “Fearless” (a song also excluded from the movie) shows Cady’s true feelings about her new status and gives her motivation to own up to writing the burn book. Without it, there is less resolution for the character of Cady in the movie. 

I Choked While I Was Watching It

Yes, it was the movie’s fault. It was at the point in the movie when Regina got run over by the bus. I was in the process of eating a piece of popcorn when it happened: the orange bus barreled across the screen. I jumped and inhaled really quickly, causing the piece of popcorn to be swept into my windpipe. Of course, I ran out of the movie theater, coughing, until I reached the water fountain and found relief. It was a dramatic moment, one that I would rather not have to relive. I believe that I too was personally victimized by Regina George in that moment.

Conclusion

It’s hard to remake a movie and do better than the original; in fact, it’s almost impossible. However, I would argue that the Mean Girls Broadway Musical was an example of a remake that held its own and was original enough that it was worth seeing, but still stuck to the plot. In my opinion, the new movie should’ve just served as a movie version of the broadway musical. Instead, the movie people took something perfect and ruined it with new songs and different takes on the already existing songs that were fine as they were. If you are a fan of Mean Girls and want to go see this movie, go with the expectation of disappointment.