Within the next week the latest addition to William Shakespeare’s timeless classic, Romeo & Juliet, will hit cinemas across the world. It would seem that we cannot go much further than ten years before releasing a later, newer and hopefully better version of Bill’s wondrous love story. However, with the latest on screen dramatic take by Carlo Carlei, there are more than a few disappointing problems.

The greatest of these is that there is almost no way this film will be able to compare to or live up to Baz Luhrmann’s epic redesign of the play which starred Leonardo DiCaprio, arguably one of the world’s finest actors. That of course leads on to the next problem. The actor playing Romeo, Douglas Booth, looks like he belongs in Twilight as a heart throb for countless teenage girls. Either that or the abominable One Direction… The point is (and forgive me for judging a book by its cover), I don’t believe that this actor will firstly; be able to  compare to Leonardo and secondly; be able give a good performance in his own right.

There are a few things which give me a morsel of hope. Damien Lewis and Paul Giamatti are playing Lord Capulet and Friar Laurence respectively, however, I fear that their parts will be too small to have enough impact in saving the film from character assassination.

I really hope I am proven wrong about Carlei’s Romeo & Juliet, but I can’t help but feel it will be akin to a Twilight-like take on William Shakespeare and have Baz Luhrmann laughing at such a pathetic attempt at creating a masterpiece which he has already done so fantastically.

On another note, and a more optimistic one at that, the cinema is not the only place Romeo and Juliet is being performed. Monaco’s ballet is touring (currently in Brazil) with their new adaptation of Romeo & Juliet and so far it looks to be a spectacle. If you get a chance, I would recommend seeing this well before you see the film! Here is a short clip about the ballet: