The Pen is Mightier than the Sword.

And yes, this is a public post ^^ For the sake of avoiding spoiling anything for those who have yet to make it to the theater, I will provide a cut tag ^^

Rent was everything I'd hoped it would be and more. I saw the musical on stage back in 1997 performed by the national performance cast in D.C. with a group of my fellow theater majors, and absolutely loved it. Even at that time, I wondered if anyone would be able to do it justice in the movie theaters.

Chris Columbus surprised me, and pleasantly so. From the opening with the main cast singing "Seasons of Love" on the stage of an abandoned theater to the on-screen viewing of Mark's "Today 4 U" documentary, I was spellbound. I know there are probably people who wanted to see other actors who'd performed the roles on stage when they saw it on the screen, but I was more than thrilled that most of the original Broadway cast reprised their roles ten years later. I still love the stage performance, but in my mind there really is only one Mark Cohen, and that is Anthony Rapp. Talk about aging well!

The only real qualms I had was the cutting out of two major songs (as much as I love "Contact," I just couldn't see it translating well and keeping a PG-13 rating!): "Halloween" and "Good-bye Love" which both appear on the soundtrack. I can only assume that they had to be cut for running time, and hope that they will be on the DVD release as either deleted scenes or restored in an extended edition or director's cut.

Seriously, I could see the chemistry between all these actors even ten years later was intact and running hot, and the additions of Traci Thoms as Joanne Jefferson and Rosario Dawson as Mimi Marquez did nothing to change the dynamic. The girls meshed well with the original cast, and you can feel everything that these characters on the screen feel.

I have renewed love for Mark, Roger and Mimi.

I also have the desire to write more of my crossover that I entered in the GWYaoi OTP challenge. I'm going to be good and wait until after December 31 to post anything, but after watching the movie I am reenergized to the "What You Own" universe. But I digress ^^;

Seriously, if you are a fellow Rent-head and you have any qualms about seeing it in the theater, you have no reason to fear. Columbus did us all good, the cast did us all good, and the movie is as moving and beautiful as the musical is on the stage.