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My dreams have
come true thanks to the fine folks over
at Touchstone Home Entertainment. Long have
I dreamed of a new version of William Shakespeare’s
“Rome & Juliet.” Oh sure
I’ve seen it done before, with Laurence
Harvey and Susan Shentall, Leonard Whiting
and Olivia Hussey, and even Leonardo DiCaprio
and Claire Danes. But now…. now at
long last…. I have finally seen it
performed by the ultimate cast…. Garden
Gnomes.
You read that right…. Garden Gnomes.
Touchstone’s “Gnomeo & Juliet”
is the newest animated feature to hit the
home entertainment market, and it is a classic
telling of this classic story. Granted,
it had to be a bit modernized, considering
the cast is made up of Garden Gnomes…
yet the telling is still the same. It’s
the Reds vs. the Blues (from opposing yards
– Montague & Capulet - no less)
that keeps Gnomeo from being able to court
Juliet.
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“Gnomeo & Juliet” is brought
to us by the director of Shrek 2, and the humor
flies nearly as fast and furious but doesn’t
necessarily use the same type of pop culture references.
As opposed to having sword fights, we have lawn
mower races… that type of thing. I also
found it interesting to note just how ‘fragile’
these characters are….not emotionally, but
physically and it is played to great effect. And
never have I seen two yards so full of Garden
Gnomes, but it allows for there to be a lot of
radical types and styles, all of which lend themselves
to telling this colorful story.
As seems to be the animated film code of late,
the voice cast is made up of some of Hollywood’s
top stars, including James McAvoy (Gnomeo), Emily
Blunt (Juliet), Michael Caine (Lord Redbrick),
Maggie Smith (Lady Blueberry), Jason Statham (Tybalt),
Patrick Stewart (William Shakespeare), and even
(gasp) Ozzy Osbourne as Fawn… a garden deer.
All turn in fun vocal performances.
The film, I learned after watching some of the
special features, seems to be in part the brainchild
of Sir Elton John and his music permeates nearly
every frame of the film. Both old familiar songs
and a few new ones pop up during this little animated
telling of the tale.
I watched “Gnomeo & Juliet” with
my daughter and while I usually screen films first,
I don’t when the film in question is rated
‘G’. In retrospect I might need to
reevaluate this particular practice. While most
of the jokes and scenes in “Gnomeo &
Juliet” were harmless and funny as I would
expect, there was a lot more sexual innuendo than
I would have expected. Little throwaway lines
for the most part, but still a couple that raised
questions from my daughter. Additionally, there
was a Gnome that was dressed in a thong, which
I thought was a bit inappropriate and unnecessary.
All in all, not enough in the film for me to not
want my kids to see it, but just enough to raise
eyebrows.
“Gnomeo & Juliet” is certainly
an ambitious effort. The animation was superb,
and the music worked very well throughout. The
vocal performances were spot on and there were
quite a few laughs. But the film as a whole suffered
from a somewhat weak script. The laughs were there,
but they were not consistent and the story as
a whole wasn’t as attention grabbing as
it should have been. My daughter liked, but did
not love the movie, and I have to side with that
opinion.
For this review, I checked out the 2-disc release,
which included a Bluray and DVD (a practice that
I am still applauding the studios for doing),
and the transfer on the Bluray was gorgeous. As
I mentioned, the animation was superb and the
Bluray picture was everything you’d expect…
flawless.
I did enjoy some of the special features that
are included on this release, though they are
brief. (Perhaps that is what I enjoyed most about
them.) “Elton Builds a Garden” offers
a little behind the scenes bit of fluff about
Elton’s involvement, while “Frog Talk
with Ashley Jensen” is a tiny video bit
on her casting in the role of Nanette. “The
Fawn of Darkness” offers a little bit of
Ozzy as Fawn, but again it’s a little too
short. There are quite a few deleted scenes, alternate
scenes and alternate endings thrown in, as well
as a music video for “Crocodile Rock.”
“Gnomeo & Juliet” is a very cute
and entertaining movie. It’s just not necessarily
a memorable one.
Directed by: Kelly Asbury
Starring (the voices of): James Macavoy, Emily
Blunt, Michael Caine, Ozzy Osbourne, Patrick Stewart,
Hulk Hogan, Dolly Parton
Special Features: Elton Builds a Garden; Frog
Talk With Ashley Jensen; The Fawn of Darkness;
Alternate Endings with Filmmaker Introductions;
Deleted and Alternate Scenes with Filmmaker Introductions;
Crocodile Rock Music Video
Release Date: 5/24/2011
Studio: Touchstone
http://www.gnomeoandjuliet.com/
We'll give Gnomeo & Juliet (Bluray) a B-.
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