MovieChat Forums > Romeo + Juliet (1996) Discussion > Would have been so much better

Would have been so much better


if they didn't use Shakespear's script and turn it into a comedy

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It would have been so much better if they kept the movie the same plot but got rid of the old english and used modern english.

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I agree. I think this film would have benefited from updating the story and dialogue instead of just changing the setting. A lot of its problems, like DiCaprio having no earthly clue what his lines mean, would go away if they had bumped it up, ala West Side Story.

As it stands, it's just mired in its own would-be cleverness of a modernised setting.

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It would have been so much better if they kept the movie the same plot but got rid of the old english and used modern english.
Like has been done before in heaps of different movies across a range of genres? No, I don't think so.🐭

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Absolutely.

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Hey, that plutonium is mine, it's been registered for religious purposes!

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Shakespeare used Early Modern English. Neither Old English (Beowulf) or Middle English (Canterbury Tales).

I hear Lord Fellowes (of Downton Abbey fame) rewrote the whole thing--but shot it in Verona, Italy. He used his words instead of Shakespeare's because not everyone had as expensive an education as he. I haven't bothered to see his version...

I can understand Shakespeare just fine. May need to pay attention--but it's not that hard.

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How about modernizing the language, making it a comedy, and casting lawn ornaments?

Lots of ways to interpret this timely story.

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[deleted]

I don't see how, even if there had been a happy/happier ending, the themes and plot could work as a comedy.

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