Ed's Review Dot Com

Touchstone Pictures, Rocket Pictures, Miramax Films

James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Ashley Jensen, Michael Caine, Matt Lucas, Jim Cummings, Maggie Smith, Jason Statham, Ozzy Osbourne, Stephen Merchant, Patrick Stewart, Julie Walters

“Gnomeo, Gnomeo, wherefore art thou Gnomeo.” “No really, I’m stuck!” This is the garden gnome (Travelocity?) version of Romeo and Juliet. Duh! There are two families, the Capulets and the Montagues who have gardens in their back yards. Except one has only red hatted gnomes and the other has only blue hatted gnomes. Not only do the neighbors not get along, but the gnomes do not either. And they have Toy Story disease which is when any human is around you FREEZE! Well the humans go away on a trip and the gnomes fight, except that accidentally a red gnome and a blue gnome fall in love, and the rest is history.

I looked forward to this film a lot, but never got around to trekking out to the theater to see it. It finally released on DVD, and I watched it today, and I must say it wasn’t nearly as good as I expected. It’s a cute film with cute characters, and I’m sure the kids will have fun (especially the little boys) with all the battles and explosions, but it was definitely bland. It is clever to take the Romeo and Juliet story and make it fresh, but that’s been done before, so it’s not original. It has a “Smurf-y” feel though, I have to admit. The most recognizable voice in the film is, of course, Michael Caine. It’s so easy to recognize him, probably Patrick Stewart as well, but otherwise, the voice actors are fresh, even though some are well known. And of course Disney has to have a “Disney Death” at the end, but has to have a new ending as Mr. Shakespeare’s ending is bit too tragic. (If you’re not familiar with Disney Deaths, it’s like Baloo in Jungle Book, and basically one character in every film who appears to die causing great sorrow among his friends, only to wake up at the right dramatic moment. This one basically has THREE Disney Deaths, so enjoy that!) So, it’s colorful, and has some funny characters, but was not as awesome as I expected, and ranks in the middle of the pack of the great animation in the past couple years. But still it’s a good rental if you have kids, and they’re sure to be entertained for 90 minutes or so. So it’s good for that, for sure!

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog