In the Heights is a celebration of community, hope and heritage

If you want something big-hearted, celebratory and brimming with hope, you can’t go past this splashy new musical movie.

Splashy, exuberant and brimming with joy, In the Heights is the antidote to a tough year.

With its burst of colour, elaborate song-and-dance sequences and emotional storylines, this is a musical that fully wears its heart on its sleeve and won’t apologise for it. Not one bit.

Based on the hit Broadway stage production by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and directed by Crazy Rich Asians’ Jon M. Chu, In the Heights has a toe-tapping spirit, an earworm soundtrack and a seductive vibe that sweeps you along for the ride.

You have to be inclined to go on that ride in the first place. Not everyone likes a musical and In the Heights is as earnest as they come. But if that is your jam, you’re going to love it.

The film follows young corner shop owner Usnavi de la Vega (Anthony Ramos), who also narrates the story. Usnavi is the son of Dominican immigrants, and he was named for the US Navy boat his dad saw when he first sailed into New York harbour, but he was raised by Claudia (Olga Merediz) after his parents’ death.

In the Heights is in cinemas now.

RELATED: How Jon M. Chu brought In the Heights to the screen

Claudia is something of a community Abuela – she didn’t have any kids of her own after migrating from Cuba but looked after the whole neighbourhood.

Usnavi lives and works on a block in Washington Heights, a Manhattan neighbourhood home to a diverse Latin community. It’s a bustling, dynamic place packed with dreamers who want more than what they’ve been told they can have.

There’s Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), the woman Usnavi is seriously crushing on. She has aspirations of being a fashion designer, but she can’t even rent a studio downtown.

Benny (Corey Hawkins) works dispatch at Kevin’s (Jimmy Smits) taxi business. Kevin’s daughter Nina (Leslie Grace) has just returned from her first year at Stanford University is too afraid of telling her dad she’s dropped out because of tuition costs.

A swirl of colour and energy.

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Meanwhile, Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega) has to move her salon and her employees (Dascha Polanco and Stephanie Beatriz) to the Bronx because the rents are rising in Washington Heights as gentrification creeps in.

In the Heights has a loose story but it’s more structured around character vignettes. All the subplots crossover, tied together by the film’s universal theme of dreams, but you can easily appreciate one without the other.

Usnavi has to choose between his ambitions to return to the Dominican Republic and revive his father’s former beach bar business or to pursue Vanessa.

And while Ramos and Berrera are both beautiful and charismatic, their love story doesn’t resonate as much as Benny and Nina’s, whose “When the Sun Goes Down” steals the crown as the premiere love ballad of the film.

Corey Hawkins and Leslie Grace has the more effective romance story.

But perhaps the character whose story hits the hardest is young Sonny’s (Gregory Diaz IV), Usnavi’s clever teen cousin with big ideas and plans for his life, but finds himself hampered when he realises he’s undocumented. He won’t be able to go to university.

Sonny’s story is a common one in the US – those who entered the US without documentation while underage – and are known as DREAMers, named for a legal proposal that would provide a pathway to residency for those who didn’t choose how they migrated.

Dascha Polanco, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Stephanie Beatriz in the “96,000” dance sequence.

The songs vary from snappy raps such as “96,000” a huge ensemble piece in which all the characters fantasise how they would spend the life-changing $96,000 lotto winnings to fiery “Carnaval del Barrio”, a dynamic, all-in number about the pride of their Latin heritage.

And Miranda even pops in as the Piragua guy, selling shaved ice desserts in a petty battle against his rival, Mister Softee (played by In the Heights and Hamilton Broadway alum Christopher Jackson).

For Hamilton fans, there’s even the easter egg of some waiting music you won’t fail to miss.

In the Heights doesn’t soar as high as something like Hamilton – it has some pacing and consistency issues in that some of its characters’ stories, such as Nina’s challenges in accepting success outside of the world she knows, are much stronger than others.

But with its big-hearted, vibrant celebration of community, hope and heritage, it’s a movie that’s infused with life and verve.

Rating: 3.5/5

In the Heights is in cinemas now

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