Gnomeo and Juliet
Director: Kelly Asbury
Cast: James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Jason Statham
Rated: G
Running time: 84 minutes
A kiddie version of Romeo and Juliet? I'll admit to mild curiosity when thinking that someone would make a kids movie out of young love leading to a double suicide. But I was sold when I realized I would also get to see what lawn gnomes are up to when British people go to work.
Apparently, lawn gnomes are exactly like Toy Story toys in that they come alive when no one is watching. And as for the retelling of the classic tale? Well, the film makes it clear pretty quickly that liberties are being taken.
The story is thus. There are two quarrelling neighbours, one with red gnomes and the other, blue. When the owners leave, the lawn gnomes continue the battle. Soon a blue and red meet, and fall for each other just as the turf war starts escalating rather rapidly.
As for cameos, there are many, including the Hulkster lending his voiceover talent, and Elton John is all over this thing - not in a particularly good way, but he does get a producer credit, for whatever that's worth. Visually the film is pretty cool with lots of good detail on the ceramic characters, and the clinking when they touch is a nice touch.
In the end, this is a kiddie film that is written for adults. Not that it's well-written by any stretch, but the pop-culture-reference-o-meter was definitely tilting in the parents' favour. To be fair, the kids didn't seem to mind that parents were laughing more than they were.
