As soon as I hit play on the musical In The Heights, I knew the six dollars I had paid for the rental of the movie were well spent. I couldn’t sit still in my seat—I had to pause the movie for a moment to gush my excitement to my mom, who was watching the new musical alongside me.

In The Heights, another musical with music by the multi-talented man Lin-Manuel Miranda, did not disappoint, despite having high expectations to live up to. Miranda’s most famous work, Hamilton, absolutely blew everyone away, so I was slightly concerned that In The Heights wouldn’t be nearly as impressive. Though I still strongly believe that Hamilton wins in both originality and enjoyability, In The Heights was certainly not a movie to miss.

The story follows a young man named Usnavi de la Vega (Anthony Ramos) and his struggles to find his future in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in Manhattan. His love interest, Vanessa (Melissa Barrera), also had to find a way to chase her dreams of becoming a fashion designer while living in a generally poor neighborhood.

Along with Usnavi and Vanessa, there were several other characters, such as Nina Rosario (Leslie Grace and Ariana Greenblatt), who felt unbelievably real. All three of the latter, especially Nina, seemed like very legitimate characters and had real-world problems that are prevalent today and have been for years. 

Nina’s issues were, for one, her inability to fit in at the prestigious school of Stanford University, and two, trying not to crack under the pressures that her friends and family are placing on her. In the end, Nina’s problems resolve in a satisfactory yet unexpected way; I had assumed she would choose not to stay at Stanford and have her father understand why, but instead, I was presented with a much better and unique conclusion.

I admired that each character had their own story, and that kept the musical fresh and entertaining the entire way through. It was obvious that a substantial amount of work was put into the development of the film, and each separate story blended together to create one fabulous movie.

As well as having phenomenal characters, the musical, which was directed by Jon M. Chu, contained incredible music that showed off the Latino and Hispanic roots of the characters and neighborhood. Like other songs by Miranda, each track was an immaculate blend of hilarious rapping, soft cadences, and powerful belting. The emotions in each scene were solidified by every song, and this helped to balance the moods between energetic, romantic, and tragic.

Although there were many complex elements to In The Heights that I loved, my favorite parts were the easter eggs and subtle nods to Hamilton. And obviously, Miranda’s role as a piragua cart worker was incredible, and the main role being filled by Ramos, who also played Philip Hamilton and John Laurens in Hamilton was even more incredible. However, there were many less obvious references to the musical throughout, which I found very amusing and entertaining.

Overall, In The Heights flew by, despite its over two-hour running time; the brilliant dances, colors, and music were difficult to take my eyes away from for even a moment. On the other hand, the movie also had a second layer that opened up the difficulties of being an immigrant in a non-wealthy neighborhood, and especially of those who are undocumented.

The multiple layers to this film made this masterpiece both fun and exciting but also left me in thought about a piece of the world that I had never deeply considered. So many topics and styles were threads that wove together to create this complex quilt that In The Heights symbolized.