“Gnomeo and Juliet,” directed by Kelly Asbury, is an animated film based loosely on Shakespeare’s tale of forbidden love. Neighbor rivalry between Montague and Capulet residencies in Stratford-on-Avon has turned the garden gnomes who inhabit their lawns into warring creatures.
“Gnomeo and Juliet,” directed by Kelly Asbury, is an animated film based loosely on Shakespeare’s tale of forbidden love.
Neighbor rivalry between Montague and Capulet residencies in Stratford-on-Avon has turned the garden gnomes who inhabit their lawns into warring creatures. Montague garden gnomes are blue and Capulet garden gnomes are red, and they aptly call one another Blues and Reds.
“Gnomeo and Juliet” has an enchanting start as a gnome donning a tall, pointed hat that covers his eyes narrates the story as a hanger shows up in a couple of attempts to avert his quest. Silly and kid-friendly, the film pulls in the audience.
The film’s clever use of Shakespeare’s character Tybalt as a hot-tempered Red is cute. However, the rest of the film’s references to Shakespeare, such as Juliet’s monologue and a talking, bronze statue of the poet himself, lose their charm and come across as somewhat of a mockery. Some things are best kept sacred, especially when a reinvention is trivializing the grandeur of an original work of art.
With an Elton John soundtrack and a brightly colored gnome world, “Gnomeo and Juliet” hopes to win its audience with these elements as it attempts a comical take on the classic tale, but falls short. Unfortunately, the script, which took more than a handful of writers to create, isn’t able to bring the cute little gnome creatures out of the one-dimensional and into the spectacular.
The film also borrows so many pieces of material from other animated movies that it loses the originality it already had with its gnome world at the start. For example, the scene where Juliet disguises herself wearing a sock and continues to do suspended martial arts moves in a “Kung Fu Panda” or “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” approach is cute yet borrowed.
While any Elton John fan will enjoy his music featured throughout the film, it becomes a bit overdone. When an animated character of the musician appears wearing oversized, glittery, star-shaped sunglasses, it will come as no surprise that the film was produced by Elton John’s production company, Rocket Pictures.
As we’ve seen time and time again, here is a film intended for young children that is trying too hard to incorporate elements of pop culture geared toward adults.
Unfortunately, in the case of “Gnomeo and Juliet” some of the adult-intended humor falls on the sharp side of inappropriate. For instance, there is a thong-wearing gnome who parades about in a couple of scenes and several other adult intended moments that are a bit risqué.
Granted, the gnomes are adorable, and many of the film’s brightly colored characters, such as Juliet’s confidant, a big, green turtle, win the heart of a young child.
It is the pink flamingo, Featherstone, who shows heart as he befriends Gnomeo and Juliet after stumbling upon them during one of their secret meetings.
It is Featherstone who explains the importance of love and questions the hatred between the Blues and the Reds to Gnomeo and Juliet. Here is where the scriptwriters went right by offering a heartfelt explanation to the absurdity of the warring between the gnomes.
Sadly, the film takes a turn for the worse with its ending when the Terrafirminator, a lawnmower advertised on the computer of the Blues’ homeowner, tears up the lawns of both the Reds and the Blues, leaving young children and adults in the audience aghast. Happy endings are what a young child’s movie ought to be made of.
