Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom) takes a shot at reinventing Shakespeare's story of star-crossed lovers as a visual pastiche inspired by MTV imagery, Hong Kong action-picture clichés, and Luhrmann's own taste for deliberate, gaudy excess. The result is explosive chaos, both in terms of bullets and visual sensibility, which some may find impossible to stick with for more than a few minutes. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes play the leads, though not with much distinction, while Pete Postlethwaite makes a huge impression as this movie's version of Friar Laurence. The film is successful in spots, but overall its fever-dream game plan is difficult to ride out. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet

I general like Shakespeare to be done in the time it was written for. However, I enjoy anything that Leonardo DiCaprio or Clair Dane does and totally enjoy this film eventhough it has been brought up to date. I give it four stars only because of this. October 22, 2008

Fantastic Movie

This is a great movie and the format is also wonderful in that you can stop the DVD and just look and listen to certain songs in the film. It's a terrific way to present a classic.. September 7, 2008

Tripe

First of all, why the need to call it "William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet"?
I mean, was there a danger of the public confusing it with Barbara Cartland's or Edgar Allen Poe's Romeo & Juliet?
Are the producers of this piece of tripe so supercilious that they feel the viewing public wouldn't know who wrote Romeo & Juliet? Are they? Are they?
As to the film itself, little more need be said about the performances (uniformly terrible), the music (annoying) and the "modern" updating (ludicrous). August 11, 2008

I Love this Movie

Amazing Actors, wonderful cinematography, this movie is a great update of Shakespeare. It keeps with the original language of the play, (which may sound suprisingly modern to some at certain points). The only thing that disapointed me was that it contains only about 1/3 of the original play, But what else can you expect in the age of A.D.D.? July 2, 2008

Shakespeare Rocks

Love this version of Romeo & Juliet. I call it "in your face Shakespeare." It is a good introduction to Shakespeare for teenagers. It shows them that the themes of older literature are still relevant today in their world. June 30, 2008

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