The love story of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is so powerful that it still holds sway on every stage devoted to the bard's works, as well as school and general productions and various cinematic interpretations. Whether or not the viewer responds to this version as adapted for the screen by Julian Fellowes is a matter of mental malleability - to see and feel the tragedy in one of the most distilled and credible versions to date or to push away because it is not a word for word reproduction of the original. Film allows the expansion and condensation of a story and that is what Fellowes has provided – paring down some of the play and reshaping some of the characters to make the love story bloom as spontaneously and rapidly as possible and then shortly after the climax, make the resolution of the love song far more poignant than ever. Carlo Carlei makes Fellowes adaptation work in the splendid way he opens up the story and draws powerful performances form a very well selected group of actors.

The story is so well known that it need not be summarized: Romeo and Juliet secretly wed despite the sworn contempt their families hold for each another. It is not long, however, before a chain of fateful events changes the lives of both families forever. California actress Hailee Steinfeld ('True Grit') may not be the most beautiful Juliet on record but her emerging from child to woman is magnetic. Douglas Booth is strikingly handsome and genuine as a perfect Romeo. Christian Cooke is a striking Mercutio and Ed Westwick is the evil proud Tybalt whose murder of Mercutio and whose death at Romeo's hands sets the tension for the story. Juliet is a Capulet (parents played by Damien Lewis and Natascha McElhone) and Romeo is a Montague (parents played by Thomas Arana and Laura Morante). Stellan Skarsgård is the decisive Prince of Verona, Kodi Smit-McPhee is Benvolio, but it is the expanded characterizations of the Nurse superbly enacted by Lesley Manville and Friar Laurence brilliantly portrayed with immense sensitivity by Paul Giamatti that makes this version work so extremely well.

The setting is breathtakingly splendid – all set in Italy - and the musical score by Abel Korseniowski and cinematography by David Tattersall polish this gem to a fare-thee-well. For this viewer this is one of the finest interpretations of Romeo & Juliet ever made. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, March 14

It's William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, only it's not really. I'm willing to buy into it if it's done well. Julian Fellowes is trying to simplify the words to be understandable for the modern audience. This feels clunky. There is a musicality to Shakespeare's words which is mostly lost in this version. It just feels wrong.

I was actually very fascinated with Hailee Steinfeld who did such a solid job in 'True Grit'. This would be a younger Juliet in the similar vain as Franco Zeffirelli's version. Although she doesn't impress in this, she wasn't the big problem for me. I kept looking at pretty boy Douglas Booth as Romeo. I couldn't stop noticing his tween dreamy idolization of the character. He is like an Abercrombie ad. He's very beautiful and very two dimensional.

There are some interesting actors at work here. Paul Giamatti does some good work. I also like Kodi Smit-McPhee. The Italian locations look beautiful. However it is all a bit wasted in a movie full of little annoying problems.

Watching this film only gives only provides me more reasons to love the 1968 Romeo And Juliet film that starred Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey.

This 2013 film adaptation is definitely a poor version of the William Shakeaspere tragic play of romance.Douglas Booth and Hailee Steinfeld,who stars as Romeo and Juliet respectively,simply lacks the passion,energy and realism as the star-crossed lovers of feuding Verona and Montague families. It was nothing to the performances of Whiting and Hussey. Too bad that the decent performances of the other stars or the so-called "adults" such as Damian Lewis,Kodi Smit-McPhee,Ed Westwick,Stellan Skarsgård and Paul Giamatti are not and will never be enough to compensate for the poor performances of the lead stars.

What's worse,it also does not use the written dialogues of Shakespeare in it.Parts of it were only used.It only follows the plot of the play and the Verona setting.Nothing more.Too bad that people looking forward to this film felt cheated thus arising the controversy for false advertising.Or better yet,the film simply did not meet the standard for it lacks passion,romance,lyricism and eroticism expected from any Romeo And Juliet film.Truly disappointing.

No question that the 1968 version remains the best film adaptation ever made.