Juliet & Romeo

by Mike McGranaghan

Juliet & Romeo is William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy reimagined in the style of Kids Bop. It’s a relentlessly, bordering on inappropriately, upbeat musical take on the story that works overtime to make it relevant for teen audiences. Most adolescents would probably have a better time watching this movie than they would attempting to decipher the Bard’s language. Even so, the approach is so incongruent with the source material that all the meaning gets sucked right out.

Juliet Capulet (Clara Rugaard) meets and falls in love with Romeo Montague (Jamie Ward) despite their families being sworn enemies. The two have to hide their romance from their relatives, including Lady and Lord Capulet (Rebel Wilson and Rupert Everett) and Lord Montague (Jason Isaacs). Neither want anything to do with the interfamilial feud; they just want to share their love with each other. The sympathetic Friar Lawrence (Derek Jacobi) devises a solution to this dilemma that involves a remarkable new sedative created by a local apothecary (Dan Fogler).

The tale is regularly interrupted by having the characters break into semi-catchy pop songs that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Justin Bieber or Backstreet Boys CD. Director Timothy Scott Bogart (Spinning Gold) shows no flair in staging the musical numbers. He has three basic camera moves – going closer to actor, pulling away from actor, going in an arc around actor – that are repeated over and over again. The players often just stand still for these sequences. Choreography must not have been in the budget.

Dialogue comes in fairly short snippets that are designed to lead into the tunes. That proves problematic since the meat of the story is lost. Romeo & Juliet succeeds as a romance because Shakespeare takes the time to establish the stakes for the central couple. We understand how intense the rivalry is between the clans, as well as how subversive this love affair is in that context. Forcing in songs fundamentally requires oversimplifying the material. We don’t get a strong sense of the Capulet/Montague hatred, and the cheery songs may sell the passion between these young lovers but they fail to suggest a fear of reprisal from their families.

Rugaard and Ward are pleasant enough leads with nice singing voices, and the impressive supporting actors are fun to watch. Juliet & Romeo also boasts elaborate production design. Verona is unmistakably a soundstage set, although that doesn’t mean you can’t see the care that went into creating it. Such minor pleasures keep the film watchable, even as it fails to evoke any true emotion.

And thus we arrive at the finale. Juliet & Romeo dares not only to rewrite Shakespeare’s story to give it a happy ending, it actually promises us a sequel. Yes, really. “Juliet & Romeo will return!” says the onscreen text. More than anything, this manipulation represents why the movie doesn’t work. Removing the couple’s tragic fate undermines the entire point of the tale.

For a hip, contemporary, music-driven version of this eternally popular piece of literature, stick with Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 Romeo + Juliet.

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