meet the plastics

Musical version of Mean Girls fetches fun, breezy tunes and easy storyline

The cycle of non-musical movies being turned into Broadway musicals and then back again into a movie musical is a fascinating one for those who love both sides. Other attempts at the trifecta – including The Producers, Hairspray, and The Color Purple – have taken up to 40 years to make the journey; Mean Girls went from film in 2004 to musical in 2017 and now back to movie musical in 2024, one of the shortest turnarounds on record.

$Avantika, Angourie Rice, Rene\u00e9 Rapp, and Bebe Wood in Mean Girls$

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Avantika, Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, and Bebe Wood in Mean Girls.

It’s easy to see why it’s been a success in each form, as the story is mostly light and breezy. Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) is a new student at North Shore High School, one which – according to besties Janis (Auli’I Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey) – is divided into cliques. At the top of the heap are the Plastics, a trio of rich girls led by Regina George (Reneé Rapp).

Cady, who quickly gets a crush on Regina’s ex-boyfriend, Aaron (Christopher Briney), schemes with Janis and Damian to take Regina and her friends down a peg by infiltrating their group. But the more Cady hangs out with them, the more she starts to take on their traits, and it’s not long before Cady loses the sense of the person she was, and the person she wants to be.

Directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr., and written by Tina Fey (who’s written all three versions), the film is easy to like if you don’t overanalyze it. There are few major changes from either the original film or the stage musical, with all of the characters following roughly the same arcs. Many personality traits are heightened for comedic effect, giving any potential emotional connection a backseat in lieu of comic set pieces.

The focus is mainly on Cady’s interactions with the Plastics, but the best pairing on screen is Janis and Damian. The artistic duo, both of whom happen to be gay, are a delight every time they’re on screen not just because of their outsized personalities, but because they – and Cady for most of the film – seem to be the only genuine characters in the whole film.

If you didn’t know the musical’s songs prior to viewing, this version probably won’t have you humming them on the way home. The staging is mostly unmemorable save for the opening “A Cautionary Tale” and Regina’s big showcase in “Meet the Plastics.” Rice is clearly not a Broadway caliber singer, and you might find yourself straining to hear her soft tones in her handful of solo performances.

What ultimately makes the movie a fun one to watch is the actors. Rice has been on the rise in recent years, appearing in the newest Spider-Man trilogy and HBO series Mare of Easttown, and she has the perfect demeanor to play both sides of this role. Cravalho (the erstwhile voice of Moana) and Spivey are magic together, turning their side characters into the heart of the story.

Rapp, reprising her role from Broadway, is the strongest singer of the bunch, even if she doesn’t quite have the appeal that Rachel McAdams had as Regina in the original film. For the adults in the room, appearances by Fey, Jenna Fischer, Tim Meadows, Jon Hamm, Busy Phillips, and Ashley Park (who originated the role of Gretchen on Broadway) are all greatly enjoyable.

While the movie musical version of Mean Girls doesn’t prove its existence as absolutely necessary, or as good as the original movie, it’s still much better entertainment than moviegoers are typically given in the middle of January. The story is easy to understand, the songs breeze by, and the actors bring everything they’ve got.

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Mean Girls opens in theaters on January 12.

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Movie Review

Shaun the Sheep welcomes spooky season with PG-scary new movie

Photo courtesy of Aardman / Sky UK LTD / StudioCanal 2026

Shaun the Sheep in Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom.

Since his introduction over 30 years ago, the Aardman Animations character Shaun the Sheep has been almost as popular as the studio’s flagship characters, Wallace and Gromit. There is never a shortage of trouble Shaun can get into as he leads his flock and proves to be a thorn in the side of his farmer and Bitzer, the farmer’s loyal sheepdog.

His antics lead everyone down some slightly spooky roads in the new film, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. At first, things are only slightly awry as Shaun and the flock are growing a secret pumpkin patch to have their own jack-o-lanterns. But when the farmer accidentally destroys the pumpkin patch, Shaun tries to regrow it quickly with a Frankenstein-esque experiment.

However, disaster looms when Shaun uses an old bottle of Hair-Gro as the container for the serum he creates. Naturally, the balding farmer uses it on his head, and everyone soon discovers how truly successful it is, with pumpkins growing out of control and the farmer sprouting hair all over his body. Through a series of mishaps, the farmer becomes the titular beast, creating mayhem while Shaun and others try to stop him.

Directed by Steve Cox and Matthew Walker, and written by Mark Burton and Giles Pilbrow, the film goes down just as easy as every other Aardman project has. They get the Halloween vibes started from the opening credits, with things like the sheep doing the “Thriller” dance, and continue the fun throughout, referencing everything from Psycho to Friday the 13th in a nice, PG way.

With no script — every character is mute save for reaction noises — the movie relies on sight gags for its humor, and the Aardman team is endlessly inventive in that respect. Sometimes it’s small things like a sheep using toilet paper rolls as binoculars, and sometimes it’s something like forcing the Bigfoot-like farmer to be shaped into a rectangle as he escapes through a window. But there’s a never-ending stream of such moments, so even if one doesn’t tickle your funny bone, chances are the next one will.

The biggest benefit of the characters not talking is that there’s no need for deep character development. The filmmakers do a great job of giving the basic traits of each character, and then use those attributes to color everyone’s actions for the rest of the film. Shaun is the troublemaker, the farmer is a bumbling fool, Bitzer is preternaturally smart, and the town’s vet is empathetic, and the combination of those characters and others makes for a highly entertaining blend.

Like all Aardman creations, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is a fun lark that doesn’t make its audience think too hard. With just enough references to keep viewers engaged but not so many as to be overbearing, the film puts its well-worn characters to good use once again, delivering a Halloween season story that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

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Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom is now playing in theaters.

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