Beautiful

Rating: 10/10 (19 December 2000)

I just want to start by saying that I am a boy and I AM NOT A LEONARDO DICAPRIO FAN!
Now on with the review.
I'm 15. For my ninth grade english class, I am currently studying William Shakespeare's tragic play Romeo + Juliet in both modern and old english versions. Now I first heard about Romeo + Juliet back in fourth grade when I was 10 years old.
I didn't know what it was about at the time, so I asked my cousin (who was in ninth grade, but graduated in 1999) what it was about. She told me it was about two teenagers from two feuding families who meet and fall in love. They soon enough get married, but all that ends tragically when they commit suicide. As a result of their deaths, the two feuding families agree to peace.
Now I didn't get a chance to see it in the theater, so I patiently waited until it debuted on Cinemax a few months after it was released. Let me just say it was amazing! I had never seen a more beautiful film.
Baz Luhrmann's updated version of the play is absolutely stunning. What really surprised me about it was that it was set in present day Verona Beach, California. They drove around in cars, instead of riding on horses and instead of fighting with swords, they fight with guns. All of this was good. One thing surprised me though, it contained it's original dialogue. Now many films that are updates of the play, don't contain the original dialogue.
10/10