Tragic love story

Rating: 9/10 (26 April 2017)

Movie review: Romeo + Juliet
Romeo + Juliet is a romantic drama film from 1996. The movie is a modernization and adaption of William Shakespeare's famous play Romeo and Juliet. The movie retained the original dialogue from Shakespeare's play. The film is directed by Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as Romeo and Juliet. The film can be best described as a tragic love story, the most famous one of all.
The movie takes place in Verona Beach. Romeo and Juliet are entangled in a lifelong feud between their families, the Capulets and the Montagues. They instantly fall in love when Romeo crashes a party the Capulets are having. The pair is soon married in hopes the marriage will ease the tension between the archenemy families. Juliet's parents try to marry their daughter off to another man, but Juliet loves Romeo. Juliet plans to run away with him, but the plan goes horribly wrong.
The story of these star crossed lovers is known to all. I think the movie did a good job at bringing it to the modern era. Some details have been changed from the original story to modernize it, like for example swords have been replaced with guns. I think the changes were a good decision. They make the story more believable and relatable for today's people.
In my opinion the cast of Romeo + Juliet was well chosen and they did the world-famous characters justice. I also like the soundtrack of the movie because it's so dramatic yet modern in a way and thereby suits the movie and its storyline. It would be very bizarre if this particular movie's soundtrack were any less emotional and powerful. I think keeping the original dialogue worked well. What I don't like about the film is that it's sometimes a bit confusing and disorderly, and I'm also not particularly fond of the character of Juliet's mother. I didn't think she really fit into the film.
All in all the movie is very good and I think it did Shakespeare's original play justice. I would recommend it to pretty much everyone. I give Romeo + Juliet 4 stars out of a possible 5.