Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss

Last updated

Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss
Sealedwithakiss.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Phil Nibbelink
Written byPhil Nibbelink
Based on Romeo and Juliet
by William Shakespeare
Produced byMargit Friesacher
Phil Nibbelink
StarringDaniel Trippett
Patricia Trippett
Chip Albers
Sam Gold
Michael Toland
Stephen Goldberg
Phil Nibbelink
Chanelle Nibbelink
Narrated byMichael Toland
Edited byPhil Nibbelink
Music byChristopher Page
Tommy Carter
Stephen Bashaw
Jack Waldenmaier
Steven Wenger
Bill Holloman
Curt Macdonald
Kirk Cirillo
Production
company
Phil Nibbelink Productions
Distributed by Indican Pictures
Release date
  • October 27, 2006 (2006-10-27)
Running time
76 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2 million [1]
Box office$463,002 [2]

Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss is a 2006 American animated romantic fantasy comedy-drama film loosely following the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. The film is about two star-crossed seals, Romeo and Juliet (voiced by Daniel and Patricia Trippet respectively), who fall in love against the wishes of their warring families. It was released in Spain in mid-2006 and on October 27 in the United States.

Contents

The film was directed, written, and entirely animated by former Disney animator Phil Nibbelink. The film, created on an estimated budget of $2 million, took 4½ years to complete and required 112,000 frames, all drawn by Nibbelink on a Wacom tablet directly into Flash 4 in combination with Moho software. While it received negative ratings, it won an award in Best in Show at the Southwest Film Festival.

Plot

Warring Capulets herd (Michael Toland) and Montagues herd (Stephen Goldberg), portrayed as Steller sea lions and California sea lions respectively, have their feud watched in horror and astonishment by Capulet's only daughter, Juliet (Patricia Trippett). A fight on the shore is ended when the prince (Phil Nibbelink), a monstrous elephant seal, appears and warns the two groups that, if there is any more disturbance, the seal who caused it shall be exiled to Shark Island where his henchman Sharky the Great White Shark lives. Romeo (Daniel Tripett), Montague's only son, is depressed, wishing to fall in love with someone. His humorous and rebellious friend, Mercutio (Chip Albers), urges him and another of his friends, Benvolio (Sam Gold), to go to a Capulet party later that evening. They attend the party, covered in white sand to look like Capulets, and Romeo falls in love with Juliet at first sight. Juliet, however, was promised by her father to marry the Prince, who attends the party. Romeo and his friends manage to wreak havoc, and are revealed to be Montagues. Later that evening, the play's balcony scene is recreated on a cliff on the beach where a tree grows. Romeo promises Juliet that they shall marry the next morning, and she will not have to marry the Prince.

Romeo begs Friar Lawrence the sea otter, to wed them. After some thought, the friar believes their marriage will end the feud between their families, and agrees. Romeo and Juliet are wed that morning and traverse the sea in their happiness. However, even the other sea and land animals strongly oppose their being together. A kissing fish named Kissy finds them a lovely couple, but warns them that they will be in big trouble if the Prince finds out. Back on the beach, Mercutio is telling many jokes, which leads to him making insulting jokes against the Capulets, and the Prince is headed in that direction. When he arrives, Mercutio mocks him as well. Romeo rushes to aid his friend, but after a struggle Mercutio falls off the cliff where Juliet met Romeo the previous evening, and everyone thinks that he is dead. The Prince, jealous of Juliet's affection for Romeo, exiles Romeo to Shark Island. In despair, Juliet seeks the Friar's help, and he gives her a potion to put her in a deathlike state. Mercutio is revealed to be alive and sees the whole thing, remarking, "What a tangled web we weave".

Lawrence shows the Capulet seals that Juliet is "dead", right as they were celebrating the marriage. But Benvolio sees her as well, and swims to Shark Island to tell Romeo. The Friar chases him to stop him, but is attacked by Sharky. After receiving the terrible news from Benvolio, Romeo heads to the shore to see if Juliet is truly dead. Friar Lawrence arrives too late and tries to follow Romeo, only to have his tail maimed by Sharky. After an undersea chase and some help from Kissy, the fish Romeo and Juliet met earlier, Lawrence escapes and heads to the beach. A heartbroken Romeo walks past the mourning Capulets and tries to kiss Juliet, only to have some of the potion slip into his own mouth, putting him in a deathlike state as well. Two groups of seals begin to weep for their loss, and Lawrence, who has just arrived, teaches them a lesson about where hatred leads them to evil. Suddenly, Romeo and Juliet awaken, and all is well. Mercutio returns, and the prince finds a new mate, a large elephant seal like himself. The movie ends with the two families at peace, and Romeo and Juliet remaining together.

Cast and characters

Production

Background

Nibbelink, a former Disney animator, and his wife, Margit Friesacher, founded the independent company Phillip Nibbelink Productions in 1998. [3] He said that he grew tired of the "big industry merry-go-round" and wanted to make films himself. [4] He had independently created two feature-length animated films before Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss: Puss in Boots and Leif Ericson: The Boy Who Discovered America. [3] Nibbelink decided to make Romeo and Juliet in 2000, [1] when he was finishing Leif Ericson, [3] and began work on it in early 2003. [1] Nibbelink wanted the film to be a family-friendly version of Shakespeare's original tale, because of the few appropriate family films available at the time. [3]

Animation

Nibbelink in his studio working on the film. Phil Nibbelink in his studio.JPG
Nibbelink in his studio working on the film.

The film took 4½ years of animating and required 112,000 frames, each of which were completed in under 2 minutes [4] and drawn on a Wacom tablet directly into Flash 4, in combination with Moho software. [5] All the frames together were done in a month, by Nibbelink's estimation. [3] The Moho software was used for the "over-the-shoulder" or the "listening" characters, or crowd scene characters. [5] The film was a half-year in post-production. [3] Nibbelink used Flash 4 because when he tried to migrate to Flash 5, it created forward-compatibility problems. Even cut-and-paste work using Flash 4 and Flash 5 launched at the same time created RAM issues and crashed. [5]

Audio

Most actors of the film were Nibbelink's friends and children, whose voices he recorded in a studio in his basement. [4] The film's Spanish dub was originally done in Madrid. [3] Nibbelink said his daughter's voice-over was completely unscripted: "I would take these silly improvs that my little daughter would do. I mean, lines like, she would say, 'Babies – p-ew! I hate stinky babies!' I said, 'That's hilarious!' So I would use it". [3]

The film had no official composer. Nibbelink bought melodies from royalty-free music compositions, and wrote the lyrics for the music. [3] These royalty free music companies were Intents Creative Music, British Audio Publishing, Crank City Music, Jack Waldenmaier Music Productions in association with The Music Bakery, River City Sound Productions, Bejoodle Music, Fresh Music, and Music 2 Hues. Three songs are included in the film: a version of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", performed by Chanelle Nibbelink and arranged by Elva Nibbelink, "Bite My Tail", performed by Michael Toland and arranged by Nibbelink, and "Singing Starfish", performed by Jennifer, Russell, and Gigi Nibbelink. [6]

Release

Theatrical release

Nibbelink standing in front of the poster for the film. Phil Nibbelink with poster.JPG
Nibbelink standing in front of the poster for the film.

Nibbelink tried to sell the film to 800 people, and was picked up by distributors MarVista Entertainment for release in foreign territories and Indican Pictures for a domestic release. [3] A preview of the film was screened at Sony Pictures Entertainment in Los Angeles, California on November 17, 2004, [7] and the film was later showcased at the 2005 Asia Television Forum in Singapore. [8] It was released as Fofita, una foquita la mar de salada to 32 theaters in Madrid and Seville on June 23, 2006. [3] [9] [10]

The film had a domestic total of $463,002 in its 34-week (238-day) box office run. On opening weekend in 2006, the film, which debuted in Los Angeles, California, [4] grossed $80,938, [2] with an average of $4,220. [11] That same week, it grossed a total $109,720. [12] The film closed its box office run on July 19, 2007, [2] having grossed just $895 that same week. [12] Despite being a minor box office bomb, as of June 2013, the film is the third most profitable film released by Indican Pictures. [13]

Home media

The film was released to DVD on June 12, 2007. Animatedviews.com's Ben Simon, in his review of the DVD, gave it an overall 7 out of 10, praising the large bonus content for a low-budget film, but criticizing the glitchy sound and audio of the feature. [14] A giveaway was previously held in 2005 by Abbey Home Media and Courier Kids, and the prize was a DVD copy of the film and a toy seal. Ten copies were given. [15] Reissuing this film on DVD and a Blu-ray release of it have yet to be scheduled.

Online streaming

The film was available to stream on Netflix, but is eventually taken down in 2016. It was also available to purchase on iTunes and Amazon Prime, but removed from the sites in 2018.[ citation needed ] As of today, Lionsgate holds the film's streaming rights via their purchase of Starz in 2016.[ citation needed ]

Critical reception

The film was negatively received by critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that only 20% of critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 3/10, based on 5 reviews. [16] Movies.com's Dave White compared what he considered the film's poor animation to the animation of The Wild , and criticized some dialogue of the film judged "vaguely Shakespearean", satirizing the fact that "children like English pronouns 15th century". [17] Sam Adams of the Los Angeles Times called the film a "genuine tragedy, although not in the Shakespearean sense" and wrote that a "comprehensive list of what's wrong with Romeo & Juliet: Sealed With a Kiss would stretch farther than the unabridged works of William S." [18] LA Weekly 's Luke Y. Thompson said that the film "should find its primary audience among college potheads who like to watch '70s Hanna-Barbera creations on the Cartoon Network late at night". [19] Common Sense Media writer Renee Schonfeld said in his 2012 review that it was "an amateurish effort with a grating villain, tired jokes, and sub-par music". He gave it 2 out of 5 stars. [20]

Despite the mostly negative reviews, most critics did commend Nibbelink for animating the entire film by himself.[ citation needed ]

In contrast, Reel.com's Pam Grady gave the film a 2.5 out of 4, saying that, "surprisingly, it's not terrible". [16] Animatedviews.com's Ben Simon defended the film, saying it was "a charming little movie" that remains faithful to Shakespeare's text. [14] The film won two awards at the Southwest Film Festival, in the animation and Best in Show category. [3] [21]

Related Research Articles

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> Tragedy by William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (1968 film) Film by Franco Zeffirelli

Romeo and Juliet is a 1968 period romantic tragedy film, based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. Directed and co-written by Franco Zeffirelli, the film stars Leonard Whiting as Romeo and Olivia Hussey as Juliet. Laurence Olivier spoke the film's prologue and epilogue and dubs the voice of Antonio Pierfederici, who played Lord Montague but was not credited on-screen. The cast also features Milo O'Shea, Michael York, John McEnery, Bruce Robinson, and Robert Stephens.

<i>Romeo + Juliet</i> 1996 film directed by Baz Luhrmann

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet is a 1996 romantic crime film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It is a modernized adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, albeit still utilizing Shakespearean English. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the title roles of two teenagers who fall in love, despite their being members of feuding families. Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo, Miriam Margolyes, Harold Perrineau, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Sorvino and Diane Venora also star in supporting roles. It is the third major film version of the play, following adaptations by George Cukor in 1936 and by Franco Zeffirelli in 1968.

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (1936 film) 1936 film by George Cukor

Romeo and Juliet is a 1936 American film adapted from the play by William Shakespeare, directed by George Cukor from a screenplay by Talbot Jennings. The film stars Leslie Howard as Romeo and Norma Shearer as Juliet, and the supporting cast features John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone, and Andy Devine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tybalt</span> Character in Romeo and Juliet

Tybalt is a character in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. He is the son of Lady Capulet's brother, Juliet's short-tempered first cousin, and Romeo's rival. Tybalt shares the same name as the character Tibert / Tybalt "the prince of cats" in the popular story Reynard the Fox, a point of mockery in the play. Mercutio repeatedly calls Tybalt "prince of cats", in reference to his sleek, yet violent manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benvolio</span> Character in Romeo and Juliet

Benvolio is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet. He is Lord Montague's nephew and Romeo's cousin. Benvolio serves as an unsuccessful peacemaker in the play, attempting to prevent violence between the Capulet and Montague families.

Roméo et Juliette: de la Haine à l'Amour is a French musical based on William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, with music and lyrics by Gérard Presgurvic. It premiered in Paris on January 19, 2001. The production was directed and choreographed by Redha, with costumes by Dominique Borg and settings by Petrika Ionesco. The producers were Gérard Louvin, GLEM, and Universal Music. ! Since then, the musical has been performed in Verona, Rome, Canada, Antwerp, London, Amsterdam, Budapest, Szeged, Moscow, Vienna, Bucharest, Seoul, Pusan, Taipei, Monterrey, Japan, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Portugal and has been translated into several languages, including Dutch, Italian, Hungarian, Russian, English, German, Spanish, Romanian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Slovak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Count Paris</span> Character in Romeo and Juliet

Count Paris or County Paris is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. He is a suitor of Juliet. He is handsome, wealthy, and a kinsman to Prince Escalus.

After Juliet is a play written by Scottish playwright Sharman Macdonald. It was commissioned for the 2000 Connections programme, in which regional youth theatre groups compete to stage short plays by established playwrights.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is a 1982 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, directed by William Woodman and starring Alex Hyde-White as Romeo and Blanche Baker as Juliet.

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (1954 film) 1954 film by Renato Castellani

Romeo and Juliet is a 1954 film adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy of the same name. It is directed and written for the screen by Renato Castellani, and stars Laurence Harvey as Romeo and newcomer Susan Shentall as Juliet, with Flora Robson, Mervyn Johns, Bill Travers, Sebastian Cabot, Enzo Fiermonte and John Gielgud. A British and Italian co-production, it was released in the United Kingdom by General Film Distributors on September 1, 1954.

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> on screen

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet may be one of the most-screened plays of all time. The most notable theatrical releases were George Cukor's multi-Oscar-nominated 1936 production Romeo and Juliet, Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, and Baz Luhrmann's 1996 MTV-inspired Romeo + Juliet. The latter two were both, at the time, the highest-grossing Shakespeare films. Cukor featured the mature actors Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard as the teenage lovers while Zeffirelli populated his film with beautiful young people, and Baz Luhrmann produced a heavily cut fast-paced version aimed at teenage audiences.

William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, set in Verona, Italy, features the eponymous protagonists Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. The cast of characters also includes members of their respective families and households; Prince Escalus, the city's ruler, and his kinsman, Count Paris; and various unaffiliated characters such as Friar Laurence and the Chorus. In addition, the play contains two ghost characters and an unseen character (Rosaline).

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (1916 Fox film) 1916 film

Romeo and Juliet is a 1916 American silent romantic drama film directed by J. Gordon Edwards and starring Theda Bara. The film was based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and was produced by the Fox Film Corporation. The film was shot at the Fox Studio in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and is now considered to be lost.

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (1955 film) 1955 film

Romeo and Juliet is a 1955 Soviet ballet film directed by Lev Arnshtam. The film was based on the 1940 production of Prokofiev's ballet, choreographed by Leonid Lavrovsky. It was entered into the 1955 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Lyrical Film and was nominated as the Palme d'Or.

<i>Romeo & Juliet</i> (2013 film) 2013 film

Romeo & Juliet is a 2013 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy. Written by Julian Fellowes and directed by Carlo Carlei, it stars Douglas Booth, Hailee Steinfeld, Damian Lewis, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Ed Westwick, Stellan Skarsgård and Paul Giamatti. The film opened in the United Kingdom and the United States on 11 October 2013. While remaining faithful to the original plot, it uses only some of the dialogue written by Shakespeare. This has led to several critics denouncing the film on the grounds that it loses the essence of the play. The film grossed $3 million.

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (1916 Metro Pictures film) 1916 silent film by John W. Noble and Francis X. Bushman

Romeo and Juliet is a lost 1916 American silent film based on William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet. John W. Noble is credited as director and Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne star as the lovers. This film was produced in 1916, the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, and was released amongst many other commemorations of his works.

<i>Mônica e Cebolinha: No Mundo de Romeu e Julieta</i> 1979 film directed by José Amâncio

Mônica e Cebolinha: No Mundo de Romeu e Julieta is a film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, starring Monica's Gang. It was originally staged at theater in 1978 with a comic and LP adaptation out in the same year. In 1979 the feature film adaptation of the play was released, filmed in Ouro Preto, as a special for the Children's Day on Rede Bandeirantes. Along with A Rádio do Chico Bento, is one of the two films inspired by Mauricio de Sousa characters completely done in live-action.

<i>Still Star-Crossed</i> American period drama television series

Still Star-Crossed is an American period drama television series developed by Heather Mitchell and based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Melinda Taub. The series is produced by Shonda Rhimes's Shondaland and ABC Studios, and aired on ABC during the 2016–17 television season. The series premiered on May 29, 2017. ABC canceled the show after one season in June 2017.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Romeo And Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss Production Information. The Big Cartoon Database. Accessed on May 25, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Armstrong, Josh (August 10, 2007). "Phil Nibbelink: Sealed With A Kiss". Animated Views. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Raugust, Karen (November 22, 2006). "Independence Day: The Growth of Indie Animated Features". Animation World Network . Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 One Man, One Movie, 112,000 Drawings. October 17, 2006. Cold Hard Flash.
  6. ↑ Romeo And Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss Cast & Crew List. Big Cartoon Database. Accessed on May 26, 2013.
  7. ↑ Phillips, Julian (November 22, 2004). Classic 2-D Animator Phil Nibbelink talks about new project: Shakespeare for children. Skwigly . Accessed on May 25, 2013.
  8. ↑ Globo TV, Marvista's bonanza at ATF. Indian Television. November 26, 2005. Accessed on July 27, 2013.
  9. ↑ Aniort, Carmen (June 23, 2006). Un romance con personajes de peso (in Spanish). ABC . Accessed on May 25, 2013.
  10. ↑ ABC Seville (in Spanish). ABC . June 24, 2006. Accessed on 25 May 2013.
  11. ↑ Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. Box Office Mojo. Accessed on August 3, 2012.
  12. 1 2 Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss - Weekly Box Office Results. Box Office Mojo. Accessed on August 3, 2012.
  13. ↑ Indican. Box Office Mojo. Accessed on May 25, 2013.
  14. 1 2 Simon, Ben (August 10, 2007). Romeo & Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss - DVD. Animated Views. Accessed on May 26, 2013.
  15. ↑ A classic tale... sealed with a kiss. Halifax Courier. October 27, 2005. Accessed on July 27, 2013.
  16. 1 2 Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
  17. ↑ White, Dave. Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss Review. Movies.com. Accessed on May 26, 2013.
  18. ↑ Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. Metacritic. Accessed on May 25, 2013.
  19. ↑ Y. Thompson, Luke. "Film Reviews". Archived from the original on November 28, 2006. Retrieved April 30, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Retrieved August 24, 2013.
  20. ↑ Schonfeld, Renee (April 14, 2012). Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss - Movie Review. Common Sense Media. Accessed on May 25, 2013.
  21. ↑ "Romeo and Juliet Takes Top Prize". Cold Hard Flash. January 18, 2007. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.