Six Twists on Romeo and Juliet, In Honor of ‘Warm Bodies’ In Theaters Today!

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Baz Luhrmann takes the helm of this re-imagining of the bard’s classic. He changes remarkably little other than everything. Actually, the script, while abridged, remains intact. It’s the location and costumes that receives the Luhrmann treatment. He moves things into present day (well, “present” at the time), swaps the swords for guns, sets it against the backdrop of the fictional Verona Beach, FL and adds the music of bands like Garbage, Everclear and Radiohead.

Surprisingly…it works. Of course, casting Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the title roles goes a long way towards guaranteeing success.

Natalie Portman was originally cast as Juliet but after shooting some footage it was determined that her size combined with her age (she was 15 at the time) made it look like DiCaprio was “molesting” her.

Lion King II: Simba’s Pride (1998)

Surprisingly, with the exception of Rowan Atkinson, the entire voice-cast returned for this direct-to-DVD cash grab. Even James Earl Jones is back and his character is dead.

The story centers on Simba and Nala’s daughter Kiara who has fallen in love with male lion who was raised in a pride of Scar’s followers who are called, not so subtly, “The Outsiders”.

While the movie features new songs, there is an almost one-to-one correspondence to the original with “My Lullaby” taking the place of “Be Prepared”, “Love Will Find a Way” taking the place of “Can You Fell the Love Tonight”, “He Lives In You” taking the place of “Circle of Life” and so on. Unfortunately none of the songs are of its predecessor’s caliber. Although “He Lives In You” was deemed to worthy enough to pad the running time of the Broadway production of The Lion King.

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