While in theaters to watch Mortal Kombat, Warner Brothers also showed off their upcoming movie In the Heights by Lin-Manuel Miranda who did the musical Hamilton. I didn’t realize this movie was based on a musical of the same name years before Hamilton became a smash hit. I was excited to watch the movie, I even went to see it in theaters.

Usnavi de la Vega is the main character of the story. He tells a group of children about his experience in the neighborhood Washington Heights which is a part of New York City’s Bronx area. While the neighborhood was never rich by any means, they were very wealthy in music.

We soon see flashbacks of him as a humble runner of a small convenience store. But he has big dreams, his largest goal is to move back to the Dominican Republic for which he hasn’t been to since he was a boy. But dreams can often become fantasies.

But his story is not the only one. You have Nina, who is a genius with a wealthy father. But her experience in Stanford college wasn’t ideal and how her father paid for it wasn’t either. You also see many others with many different triumphs and struggles in the very Latino community.

Overall, In The Heights was a pretty good musical. I’m not Hispanic/Latino but it seems to be pretty rich with Latinx culture which is rather rare with many silverscreen films. It’s a bit too long for my tastes but the music is top notch.

Score: B