Thank you osmundbullock, I could not have written a more succinct reply. Your response conveyed my opinions as well. Oh, and I'm a 56-year old who first read Shakespeare in high school.
"Wow. Our town has only had a Whole Foods for three weeks and we already have our first gay kids."

Just watched it again on TV, and I love it, too - and I'm 63 and already 'got' Shakespeare a long time ago!
A bold and imaginative conception, and (on the whole) brilliantly realised. Brave, too - and unexpectedly successful - to keep the original language, albeit heavily cut. I like DiCaprio more and more each time I see it, and though Claire Danes is not quite right, she doesn't spoil it.
As for the original poster and his distaste - well, I think you have a rather narrow mind. Crap? Filth?? RelaxShakespeare is quite capable of standing up to re-interpretation, and has been since time immemorial. There are always plenty of more conventional productions around for you to see if you hate people messing with tradition: personally I think there's enough room in this world for both types. And if it takes a radical rethink like this to attract and enthuse a new audience, well, that's fine by me.

Absolutely. When I was a teenager, they tried to have us read the play, and to a kid in 1997, Elizabethan may as well be another language entirely. It made me understand what it must be like to be able to speak just enough of a foreign language to get by.
BUT, seeing it like this: I got it.

imho this movie is a masterpiece. i didn't "get" shakespeare until i saw this movie as a teenager.
Agreed.

imho this movie is a masterpiece. i didn't "get" shakespeare until i saw this movie as a teenager.

Would it never end Hark here come the end credits. Kill DVD. ARG

"Filth??" Filth?! Tell me, are you clutching your bible and grinding your teeth as you call an artistic film "filth?" If you can't deal with experimental cinema, or artistic licence then you should stay away from movies that aren't produced by "Lifetime.." Do you also believe that mixing cranberry juice with cherry juice is unnatural "Devil sh!t??"
"IMdB; where 14 year olds can act like jaded 40 year old critics'

The only problem I have is Claire's delivery of some of her lines and her mother kissing Tybalt (or someone who looks like Tybalt), Juliet's cousin. That was weird.

Words are the same but that's it. And I need more than that, especially when it comes to Shakespeare. and this film just does not deliver. What I get is silly and stupid attempts at being avant garde and artistic as well as the absolute worst performance Leonardo Di Caprio has ever put out.
Here's a slinky, go play.

Watched it again today. Very true. Silly, jarring, awkward movie but the power of the story still shines through.