Plot
Warring Capulets and Montagues, portrayed as white (Steller sea lions) and brown (California sea lion) colored sea lions respectively, have their feud watched sadly by Capulet's only daughter, Juliet. A fight on the shore is ended when the Prince, a large and monstrous elephant seal, appears and warns the two groups that, should there be any more disturbance, the seal who caused it shall be exiled to Shark Island, a fin shaped rock where a shark lives. Romeo, Montague's only son, is depressed, wishing to fall in love with someone. His humorous friend, Mercutio, urges him and another of his friends, Benvolio, to go to a Capulet party later that evening. They attend the party, covered in white sand to look like a Capulet, but not before Romeo falls in love with Juliet at first sight. Juliet, however, was promised by her father to marry Prince, who attends the party. Romeo and his friends manage to wreak havoc, and are revealed to be Montagues. Later that evening, the balcony scene is recreated on a cliff on the beach where a tree grows, and Romeo promises Juliet that they shall marry the next morning, and she will not have to marry Prince.
Romeo begs Friar Lawrence, in this story a sea otter, to wed them. After some thought, he believes their marriage will end the feud of their families, and agrees. They are wed that very morning, and traverse the sea in their happiness. However, even the other sea and land animals strongly oppose them being together. One animal, a fish (whose name is not revealed until the end of the film) finds them as a lovely couple, but warns them that they will be in big trouble if 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. Prince, jealous of Romeo having Juliet's affection rather than him, 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 position. 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 a shark. After receiving the terrible news, 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 the shark. After an undersea chase and some help from 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 position as well. Both groups of seals begin to weep for their loss, and Lawrence, who has just arrived, takes the moment to teach them a lesson about where hatred leads them. Suddenly, Romeo and Juliet awaken, and all is well. Mercutio returns, Prince finds a new mate: a large elephant seal like himself, burps like a seal. The movie ends with the two families at peace, and Romeo and Juliet remaining together.
Read more about this topic: Romeo & Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“The plot was most interesting. It belonged to no particular age, people, or country, and was perhaps the more delightful on that account, as nobody’s previous information could afford the remotest glimmering of what would ever come of it.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“The plot was most interesting. It belonged to no particular age, people, or country, and was perhaps the more delightful on that account, as nobody’s previous information could afford the remotest glimmering of what would ever come of it.”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
“James’s great gift, of course, was his ability to tell a plot in shimmering detail with such delicacy of treatment and such fine aloofness—that is, reluctance to engage in any direct grappling with what, in the play or story, had actually “taken place”Mthat his listeners often did not, in the end, know what had, to put it in another way, “gone on.””
—James Thurber (1894–1961)