Mean Girls

If "not your mother's Mean Girls" means it's a departure from the problematic jokes that were a hallmark of the noughties, then it certainly delivers on that promise for Gen Z.

A shot-for-shot remake would have had more school spirit than this.

Sharp, funny and strongest when it stands on its own two perfectly manicured feet, this snappy musical successfully updates the original Mean Girls template for a fresh audience.

The scene-stealing standout is Avantika, playing sweet-natured Plastic dimwit Karen. Her comic timing is impeccable; her musical number, a boisterous Halloween party romp titled Sexy, is worth the price of admission alone.

“Mean Girls” has spunk but never leaps off the screen like the original. What makes it work is its 20-year-old story of adolescent friendship, cruelty and forgiveness.

The much-anticipated movie musical strikes the right note for multiple generations.

...in order to make a musical great, it must contain 1) fantastic musical numbers, 2) phenomenal choreography, and 3) the former two must work cohesively with the plot. In my opinion, Mean Girls failed in all three categories.

Despite some admirable merits, it just doesn’t spark in the same way that the 2004 version did.

This isn't fetch, but it's really trying to make fetch happen. (Stop trying to make fetch happen).

This remake of Mean Girls serves mainly as an update, as the in-universe setting catches up to technology and the challenges of being a team in this day and age.