Phenomenal. Spectacular. Top-tier. "Full of energy, passion and tragedy", West Side Story is "the most gorgeous-looking film of the year." Just some of the praise critics have heaped on the new musical out in cinemas this Friday.

Its creator is the undisputed "King of Hollywood", Steven Spielberg. He has dominated movie-making for five decades, from Jaws (1975) to Jurassic Park (1993) and Ready Player One (2018). Top film critic Brent Lang says the director's 35th feature film "feels like an Oscars contender".

It is the story of Tony and Maria, young lovers on opposite sides of an ethnic divide in 1950s New York City. Tony's best friend is head of the Jets, a white gang fighting a turf war with the Puerto RicanPuerto Rico is a Caribbean island and a US territory. By 1961, over half a million Puerto Ricans lived in New York City, almost 10% of the overall population. Sharks. Maria's brother is Bernardo, the Sharks leader.

Spielberg's blockbuster comes out exactly 60 years after the original West Side Story, a box office hit that won 10 Oscars. Both are stage-to-screen adaptations of the Broadway musical, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and music by Leonard Bernstein - 20th-Century giants of musical theatre.

But this story of "star-cross'd loversWilliam Shakespeare coined the phrase in Romeo and Juliet. It generally refers to lovers destined to fall in love, usually with an unhappy ending." goes back much further. Its creators moved Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet from 16th-Century Verona, Italy, to 1957 America. They recast the rival Montagues and Capulets as New York street gangs. And set the famous balcony scene on the city's iconic fire escapes.

Shakespeare made the story famous. But like much of his work, he adapted Romeo and Juliet from other sources. His play drew on a 1562 poem by Arthur Brooke called The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet. That, in turn, was a retelling of a 1524 novella by the Italian Luigi da Porto.

The original inspiration for all these writers was the ill-fated love of Pyramus and ThisbeTwo lovers in the ancient city of Babylon, separated by the rivalry between their parents. A tragic sequence of events lead to both committing suicide. in Metamorphoses, a 1st-Century poem by the Roman poet Ovid and one of the most important works of Western literature.

So film critic Caryn James calls West Side Story "timeless". She writes that "eternal works of art can be endlessly transformed". It is a "modern fairytale" about love and prejudice. And Spielberg's film is a chance to introduce this classic to a 21st-Century audience.

Reviewers call this version "faithful" to the original, but there has been one significant change.

Many Hispanic Americans accuse West Side Story of cultural appropriationWhen a dominant culture uses elements of a minority culture for their own benefit. Critics of West Side Story say Puerto Ricans had no voice in a play about their community.. "The show's creators", says Puerto Rican del Valle Schorske, "didn't know, or didn't seem to care to know, much about their own material." They wrote stereotypes of gang violence instead of realistic characters.

White actors in brownface played the Puerto Rican roles. In the 1961 film, the only non-white performer was Rita Moreno as Bernardo's girlfriend Anita. She became the first Latina actress to win an Oscar.

This time Spielberg says the film is a "latinx production", bringing "dignity and authenticity" to the characters. He used "historical consultants" from the neighbourhood to guide the cast. And crucially, all the Puerto Rican parts are played by latinx actors.

Some say no, this is pure cinematic entertainment and hero-worship. As a kid, Spielberg idolised Bernstein and Sondheim and memorised all the songs. When rewriting a fairytale, you can change everything but the core story. West Side Story is all about recreating the original experience - but better.

Others say yes, this is an ancient love story retold. Shakespeare never visited Verona, lyricist Stephen Sondheim said: "I've never even met a Puerto Rican." Historical accuracy is less important than the power of words to tell a universal story of tragic love.