Pluskylang Great Film overall

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Animated Antic I'll just get this out of the way and say that I'm not a big fan of the works of William Shakespeare's works. I think they're too complex to read and the stories that he writes are sometimes pretty uninteresting. I've tried to read a few of his most famous plays, but sadly I could never get into them. One of those plays I've read was arguably his most famous one of all, the romance "Romeo and Juliet". I've also seen a few film adaptations of it, preferably the 1967 version and the 1996 version, both of which I have oddly enough enjoyed, though it could be because I love film more than literature. Now, we have another adaptation this time with garden gnomes known as "Gnomeo and Juliet" and in all honesty, it's rather forgettable. It's definitely not a bad movie, but there's really nothing under the surface with this film. It didn't really leave much of an impact with me, and here's why.The story like I said is basically Romeo and Juliet with garden gnomes. Essentially, there are two neighbors named Montague and Capulet who despise each other and when they both go out to do their daily business, their garden gnomes come to life. To differentiate which gnomes is owned by which neighbor is pretty easy as the Montague's wear blue and the Capulet's wear Red and also similar to the neighbors, the leading gnomes of each garden (Maggie Smith and Michael Caine) hate each other respectively. I think you can guess what's coming next. The son of the Lady Bluebury, Gnomeo (James McCoy) and the daughter Lord Redbrick, Juliet (Emily Blunt) eventually meet and fall in love while trying to keep their love a secret. It's nothing really special.The movie is just bland. The story goes everywhere you expect it to go and the jokes don't really excite you or do anything you wouldn't expect to happen. They just come and go and are fairly predictable to put lightly. The characters are not especially to go wild about either. Both Gnomeo and Juliet are nice and say some funny things, but don't have anything to stand about them. Even their friends are nothing special. You have Gnomeo's friend Benny (who's modeled after Benvoilio) and Juliet's friend Nanette (who's modeled after her nurse) but both are pretty forgettable. The only character I found myself really enjoying was the character of Featherstone played by the fantastic Jim Cummings. He's a plastic flamingo modeled after Friar Lawrence and actually did have some funny things to say and I was actually legitimately touched by his backstory. Even the animation, I did find nice. It wasn't incredibly good, but it had some good detail and I did like the look of the scenery.Though out of those two things, do I really recommend watching "Gnomeo and Juliet"? Not really. It's mostly a harmless movie that younger children might enjoy, but for those that are above the age of twelve, it's a good film to pass on. There are better adaptations of the famous play out there than this and if I were you, I'd check them out instead of this film.

Eric Stevenson This is one of the more recent Shakespeare adaptations and it's more or less the story with gnomes. In fact, that's all it is, really. I actually thought the animation was pretty nice. The main problem is that it's too short and it tries to put in too much with all this big conflict at the end that wasn't in the play. It just seems silly for a something with garden gnomes to have battle scenes. Still, I actually would recommend this to little kids because the film is completely harmless. There's absolutely nothing offensive in it.It's at least much better than "Romeo And Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss" because this film was at least animated well and it didn't have the annoying characters. Of course, it's hard to make a kid's version of a Shakespeare play. I really do like the bit where the William Shakespeare statue comes to life and comments on the story. It does make you wonder how their world works. It seems to work on "Toy Story" where they're not allowed to show themselves to humans. The Elton John music is good too. **1/2

Python Hyena Gnomeo and Juliet (2011): Dir: Kelly Asbury / Voices: James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Jason Statham, Ashley Jensen, Michael Caine: Disappointing computer generated film that seems like a really bad descendant of the superior Toy Story films. The title is pretty much the one clever element of the film. It is a jab at the William Shakespeare classic Romeo and Juliet only it regards two families of gnomes. Gnomeo is of the blue family and Juliet is of the red. As tradition will have it, they meet and fall in love but her father is overprotective (how these gnomes have families would have been a more interesting movie in itself). Director Kelly Asbury has fun with several pop culture jokes but the screenplay is a real yawner. The images are colourful but the whole thing regards how they need to avoid being seen by humans. This is a direct steal from Toy Story. The human characters are never seen save for their feet, and they are always bickering. Gnomeo and Juliet are voiced by James McAvoy and Emily Blunt and despite their talent they cannot render any depth to the material. They are just two gnomes whose families are feuding while they profess love to each other. Jason Statham voices the typical bully who cheats in lawn mower races against Gnomeo. Ashley Jensen voices a high strung lawn frog who sees the relationship as doomed. It was doomed long before that. Michael Caine is a great veteran actor who obviously had an off day when he got cornered to lend his voice to this. Children and parents should watch the three Toy Story films and bury this copy clone in the backyard. Score: 3 / 10

breakdownthatfilm-blogspot-com There's no need to introduce William Shakespeare or give any kind of history on him. He's a famed writer that has had many of his stories adapted into plays, musicals, TV shows and movies. If you're a real avid fan of Shakespeare, it'll be easier to distinguish various works and see if they were actually used in a story line. The thing is, for anyone who has read Shakespeare's work, it's also quite difficult to feel like it'll be a new experience because the story has already been performed before. Unfortunately, this is one of the films major flaws. The only thing it would be new to are the people who have never even heard of Shakespeare. That's a smaller demographic than the entirety of it.Thankfully, the film addresses this problem in a few ways that does make it enjoyable. First, the fourth wall is broken at the very beginning where a prologue is read to introduce the story. But instead, director Kelly Asbury, a writer who helped in the story of Beauty and the Beast (1991), keeps the story moving. Because the title pretty much speaks for itself, the story takes place in a garden where two conflicting families are of different colored Gnomes. Again, even with all the writers attached to this project, none could really lift the story from being exactly what could be predicted. It's a mix of an adult story with a childlike setting aimed for the younger demographic. It's obvious to the outcome. However, although this is a problem, the writers do cleverly incorporate other themes into the plot as well to help not make the execution feel so direct.An example of this is simulating various elements of our everyday lives into what a Gnome would do. It's not always funny but it is more than it is not. It's also cool that the Gnomes were kept delicate even though they could move. It made them sound more earth like. I although am curious how you could have a fluid moving ceramic simultaneously. The looks of the Gnomes also have a nice image. Most garden gnomes are old and scruffy, but here, even though they have beards, they still look huggable. And of course because they are the main leads, Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) are a cute couple on screen. The voice cast is another well-established element. Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Jason Statham, Ozzy Osbourne and even Hulk Hogan have a specific part. My favorite was Featherstone, the pink flamingo voice by Jim Cummings. For the Jim Cummings fans, it'll be easy to spot him because he voices Featherstone like that of Bonkers (1993). Very similar. The music had a nice touch. There are several references to Elton John's music, which is cool. One gnome even looks like Elton John. As for the film score, James Newton Howard's music is respective to the scenes that are put on screen but none provide a tune that is memorable by. It is good, but not wowing. A fun family picture with predictability.Because it is based on a Shakespeare work, it becomes predictable almost immediately. However this doesn't stop it from entertaining its audience. The voice cast is fun along with its unique setting and likable characters.