They rewrote Shakespeare!

Yes unfortunately it is. Shakespeare is poetic, but they changed that with this movie.

I felt the same when i saw the Leo and Claire version.


"I'm not crazy M'Lynn, I've just been in a very bad mood for forty years"

"They" didn't--Julian Fellowes (Downton Abbey, aristocratic wannabe) did. He is an idiot.

Unfortunately, Hollywood thinks so.
That was the first thing that jarred me - right out the gate they wrote a new opening, and changed most of the dialogue in the first real scene; "Do you bite your thumb at me, sir?" "At you, sir? Oh no sir. But I do bite my thumb sir!"

Zefferelli's '69 version is the gold standard, even with the gratuitous (but tastefully filmed) nude scene.

In the play Romeo and Juliette never get a chance to consummate the marriage - Romeo gets into a fight with Tybalt right after his wedding and has to flee the city.

Very nice costumes, though.

I was shocked by how much this film felt a need to talk down to its audience. I wrote an in-depth review, act by act, scene by scene, of how the film deviates from the play, and why each time it does it's the wrong choice. For those who are interested, my review can be found on my Mostly Shakespeare blog: http://michaeldohertyspersonallibrary.blogspot.com/2014/05/romeo-juliet-2013-dvd-review.html

What are you talking about? They kept the same sequence of events and dialogue.

Passenger side, lighting the sky
Always the first star that I find
You're my satellite...

I didn't see it as dumbing down the play as much as one film's attempt at being a unique and special approach to adapting a play that comes to film once again. However, I didn't find the approach too special.

Truly unique examples that I enjoyed more than this film are Romeo + Juliet (DiCaprio) and Private Romeo.

You need to have your head pretty far up your own arse to read Shakespeare and think "this is a decent first draft, I can turn this into something great"