SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Alncr I remember accidentally stumbling on watching this movie with a family member one night back in later 2006 as a late teen, and I don't remember it being as bad as the 3.7/10 total user rating currently shown on the film's page. Which isn't too surprising given that lots of people today are hypercritical of things or films that aren't "by the book", as I definitely remember this one being a little unique from the Shakespeare play this movie is based on.In terms of an animated movie altogether for all audiences and not just kids, it's not excellent or probably not very good either, as I remember some things were too childish to my taste. But nevertheless, after looking at some clips of it again now, there were a few scenes that are interesting to say the least. Particularly, the wedding scene between the young Romeo and Juliet seal couple with the otter Friar, as the way this entire part was done (including the organ music) is the one I had remembered the most from this film.

TheLittleSongbird I love Shakespeare, and was intrigued at how "Romeo and Juliet:Sealed with a Kiss" would turn out. I did hear from people it was a disgrace to Shakespeare, but I have been known to disagree with critics and the IMDb ratings, so I gave this a chance. It wasn't absolutely repulsive, but it didn't quite click with me. The best asset of the film is the animation. The backgrounds are fluid and colourful and the characters with the exception of the Prince were well drawn. Considering the animation was done by one man, Phil Nibbelink, it was quite impressive visually. The story pretty much follows the storyline of the play, except it is about seals, plus some (I think) pointless scenes with Friar Lawrence and a shark, and the voice acting was on the whole decent. However, there are a lot of things wrong with it. I personally didn't care for the music. I love good music in animated films, but here I found the songs forgettable and bland, and the incidental music felt misplaced. I will say I liked one or two of the characters, Romeo and Juliet are appealing enough and the Kissing Fish is really cute. However, Friar Lawrence is not the wise caring character I associate him with, and I do not know why the Nurse was omitted when she provides the most effective source of parental love in the play. In my opinion, I didn't like the character of the Prince at all, I didn't like how he was drawn and his voice was too monotonic for my liking. Worst of all was the script, constant misuse of the Shakespeare language and Mercutio's jokes went well overboard, and especially in his death scene they weren't even funny. Overall, this movie was okay but I don't recommend it. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Mightyzebra When people criticize this film, they probably forget that this is a children's film. It is just a very sweet children's film based on "Romeo and Juliet" and the characters are seals (save Friar Lawrence, who is an otter). Kids will not enjoy films where a great deal of characters die and they will not enjoy a live action film about lovers. Even though I'm not a kid, however, I very much enjoyed this film - partly because I remembered that this was made for children. I also enjoyed it because of the way it was made: the plot, the animation and the characters. The songs are also sweet, but forgettable. The way one man made this film pretty much all by himself is worth giving credit for. I imagine that about 95% of the human population could not manage that. You will probably know the story of Romeo and Juliet, there are two feuding families and a boy and a girl, both from the feuding families, fall in love with each other. Well, this film is like that, only with seals.I recommend this to people who do not mind Shakespeare being very much adapted on and to every little kid who likes animated films and seals. Enjoy "Romeo and Juliet: Sealed With a Kiss"! :-)P.S "The Lion King II" is WAY more adapted from "Romeo and Juliet" and no-one criticizes that film because of it.P.P.S Last time I checked (which was when I watched it today), the whole of this film was available on Youtube, so you can watch it on there.

edboles Sealed With a Kiss is a traditional fully-animated film, with seals doing Shakespeare. I admit that like many others, I wasn't totally sold on the concept, but then when you get down to it The Lion King was basically Hamlet with lions, and few seemed to have a problem with that. Turned out to be quite a fun little movie. While the dialogue is modern, the film has a few of the characters quoting famous Shakespearian lines, but in a way that shouldn't alienate children. It's more of a comedic thing. The story gets going straight away, with rivalry between the 2 groups of seals. This is part about racism, but for the most part, an old-fashioned feud. I was worried going in that the romance would be forced and sappy. Well maybe it is a little sappy, but it's sweet, and sincerely handled. As in the play, it's love at first sight. Two of the songs near the start were, I thought rather weak, but they at least progressed the story. As the film gets going, there are fewer songs.Unlike the play, the film is light in tone and has many comedic elements. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments but some of Mercutio's puns are groan inducing(even the characters in the film seem to think so). As you would expect, liberties are taken (most notably the ending), and it isn't weighed down like some adaptations. To be honest, I fully expected it to be Romeo & Juliet in name only, and sure enough a great many story elements have no relation whatsoever to what Shakespeare wrote, but I was surprised that the core of what is here is more or less true to what I remember of the original.I was particularly interested to see how the animation turned out, as it has emerged that this film is that rarest of things: a one man animated film. Phil Nibbelink wrote, directed and animated every frame of the film over the course of 5 years. Despite this, it is remarkably well animated. Well drawn fluid cartoony animation. It's not quite of the level of a top notch Disney animated film, but it comes very close, indeed far closer than I would have ever dreamed possible for a one-man effort. A few shortcuts are taken, but there are a surprising number of scenes animated on ones (which takes twice as many drawings as is usually necessary). This means the animation can be that extra bit more fluid. Some shortcuts can be seen in some of the background characters and effects animation, but this is generally where it matters least. The important stuff, the character animation, is top notch, what you would expect from a strong Disney animator (which is what Nibbelink spent a decade working as). The backgrounds are soft-focus simple and uncluttered to frame the character animation. In a few cases these are perhaps a little rushed, but all in all, they set the atmosphere and do the job.Even with the lighter tone, it still manages strong dramatic moments. Despite the villain of the piece being a doofus played mostly for laughs, he nevertheless adds menace to the proceedings. There's nothing here that should bother small children, and they should have no trouble following the storyline. While the film aims at a young audience that may not yet be ready for this kind of romance, there should be enough action and comedy to keep them entertained.