Depressing - not because of the plot line!

Rating: Null/10 (17 March 2002)

Call me a traditionalist, a purist, close-minded, or what you will. I welcome it! This movie makes me wince. Go check out my comment for Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet and you just might understand why. I don't care what people say about how this version makes Shakespeare available and accessible to the masses - I think of it more as throwing heaps of garbage at the masses. SPOILER WARNING: For crying out loud, Luhrmann changed the plot! Juliet is supposed to wake up *AFTER* Romeo drinks the poison and dies. What did Luhrmann hope to gain by rewriting Shakespeare?? All he got from me was disrespect. Zefferelli's version is *not* boring. It is a gorgeous film in all ways, with sumptuous costume, beautiful sets and FABULOUS ACTING. The love between Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting is far and away more believable than that of Danes and DiCaprio, for all their power to attract teeny-boppers to the theater. If you're a high school student being "forced" to read this play, I hope for your sake and the sake of literature that your teacher does not show you this version first. If you're "of the masses" for whom this movie was presumably written, do yourself a favor and don't watch it. If you're like me and truly appreciate superb filmmaking and traditional, respectful interpretations, for goodness' sake help me spread the word!