zsofikam
If I could describe Romeo & Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss in one word, it would be "OK." It's debatable whether OK is a word but that's beside the point. I came into Sealed With A Kiss expecting it to be pretty bad, but was surprised to find that it was better than I thought it would be, not great or even particularly good but not horrible either. Don't come in expecting Romeo And Juliet because this is more a light introduction for the 3-6 crowd. Besides the fact
that all the characters are seals (aside from Friar Lawrence, who is an otter for some unexplained reason), there's a somewhat happier ending and some characters are either combined or eliminated entirely. Paris and the Prince are combined into the seal prince and Tybalt and the Nurse are nowhere to be found. Anyway, not as bad I as was expecting but still something of a mixed bag. One the one hand; the animation is quite nice (especially considering it was done by only one person), there were some good character designs, most of the characters were likable enough, and the Kissy Fish was cute, although I wasn't a fan of the voice. As for the bad points; while most of the character designs were good but the Prince looked oddly phallic and while I like the Kissy Fish's design, her voice I found irritating. I also wasn't too keen on the
songs and honestly thought that this could have just as easily been without them. Also, I would have Tybalt and the Nurse to be at least mentioned, but at least it's not missing nearly as many characters as The Black Cauldron. Overall, I thought it was just OK; not all that good but not as bad as either people say or I was expecting it to be.
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.
Richard Hung
This movie was bad on its own. The singing was horrible. But the fact that they took Shakespeare play and turned it into mush is unacceptable.Everything was different from the original Shakespeare script. For starters, NOBODY died in this movie. Not Romeo, not Juliet, not Mercutio, not Tybalt(who was not even in the film). And Juliet is to marry the prince instead of Paris(who again, is not in this film) I know that its for kids but you are doing Shakespeare so all his plays have tragedy. None of his films have happy endings. This film might have been a bit better if it was a brand new film, but if you say you are going to follow Shakespeare, at least do not change the whole plot and have the guts to pin it on him.
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.