Juliet & Romeo is a new film set to release in theaters this upcoming weekend. The film stars Clara Rugaard, Jamie Ward, Jason Isaacs, Dan Fogler, Rebel Wilson, and Derek Jacobi. Set in 1301 at the end of Medieval times, this most beloved of tales, is leaving the poetry of Iambic Pentameter in the past, for the original pop music that rockets these ever-present themes right to the heart of our characters in the most surprising, and perhaps most powerful way that has ever been seen, or heard, before.

Truth by told, this is not a film I had no interest in seeing. I feel safe with saying that I probably can speak on the behalf of many other people. As it stands, my local AMC only has one screening Thursday night and there’s not a single ticket booked. I only wanted to check it out, because I knew I would watch it eventually. Why not try to get it out of the way ASAP? There are countless adaptations on Romeo & Juliet, but if the switching of the title says anything, this is certainly something new. While I didn’t quite like it, I am also not mad about it as it did offer something new.

I believe much like Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet challenged viewers, this one will do the same. I have warmed up to musicals, and making this a musical certainly helps this one give reason for its existence. The music is surprisingly catchy. You can clearly understand why making this a film was a no-brainer.

There are also several twists that help differ from anything I’ve seen before from all the adaptations. It’s not just a complete copy and paste reiteration, but with music. The lighting also gives the film that moonlight effect that helps the colors pop, while the production design is detailed that helps immerse you into the film. There is also a creative decision in the third act that surprised me, and I believe it will surprise many others.

With all the good being said, this film needed a lot more improvements to make it work. The film relies too much on the music to bypass its faults. The performances are fine as the talent is clearly having fun, but they also lack chemistry, especially the two leads. They are fine and clearly have fun, but I didn’t fully buy into their relationship.

The film’s biggest sin, though, is how it chooses to play its music as the talent attempts to lip-sync. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the talents mouths off from what was being sung. The film chooses to hit play on the music as the talent tries to stay caught up with it. With its moonlight color grading, it feels like one big music video that might have just worked better over a film.

While I enjoyed the lighting and the way the film looks, the camera work couldn’t have been less uninspired as it chooses to play it safe throughout. For a film that’s meant to be grand, it could have gone even bigger by immersing you into the film’s overall location. There’s also just not enough camera shots that the editing team can cut between without the shots going on for far too without a single cut. At least that could have been improved on to help hide the fact the talent was lip-syncing.

As I’ve mentioned before with the story, there are changes that surprised me and I think will win over some viewers. Unfortunately, it’s still mainly a plot we have seen plenty of times before. It’s cool that it’s turned into a musical, but when the film sort of repeats the same plot beats as before, it doesn’t fully take the opportunity of being something entirely new. Then again, the third act does have me curious. If you’ve seen it, you know what I mean.

Overall, Juliet & Romeo could have been a lot worse, but it still falls flat. I think everyone involved has the best of intentions here. It just needed more work to help pull off immersing you into this reimagining of a tale we have seen done plenty of times before.

VERDICT: 2/5 (Bad)