BEFORE: I've been extra busy at work this week, spreading the word about a Kickstarter campaign to fund an animated feature at one job, and spreading the word about a client's Oscar nomination for a different animated feature at the other job. Lots of database work, lots of e-mailing, means longer hours for me. So it's a relief to be starting a chain of animated films, which tend to be a bit on the shorter side, so I can watch, post and still get a few hours of sleep before I have to head back to promotion-land.
Matt Lucas (his voice, anyway) carries over again for this one, which is based on some Shakespeare play, but I'm not sure which one (JK).
THE PLOT: The neighboring gardens of Montague and Capulet are at war, but the gnomes, Gnomeo and Juliet, are in love.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet" (Movie #421), "Toy Story 3" (Movie #1,066)
AFTER: I'm thinking of it as a riff on "Toy Story" because both films feature characters that come to life only when no humans are watching. Jeez, you'd think that the odd person would catch a glimpse of a moving garden gnome once in a while, but apparently not. They're very crafty. Here the lovable (?) plump little porcelain figures are allowed to stay alive only if they don't shatter. So there is death, even in the magical world of gnomes, just as the toys in "Toy Story" also faced possible damage and destruction.
Which seems to fit right in with Shakespeare, who loved a good tragedy, and a good death scene. (William Schadenfreude is more like it) And apparently he knew his audience - but here we're dealing with kids, so even though I'm usually dead-set against changing the ending of a classic work (I'm talking to YOU, "Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame"...) here somebody decided to lighten up the ending, and make it more kid-friendly, and it works. How would a garden gnome commit suicide, anyway - jump off of a birdbath?
Somebody also decided that what a Shakespeare play really needed was more Elton John songs. I'm guessing that person was executive producer Elton John. You may catch instrumental versions of "Tiny Dancer" and "Rocket Man" used as background music, and "Your Song" and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" fit right in with the theme, but the use of "Crocodile Rock" seemed a little forced. Two new songs, "Hello Hello" and "Love Builds a Garden", were clearly Oscar bait - songs are not eligible for an Academy Award unless they're written specifically for the film (which explains the one new song in the "Les Miserables" film).
It all came together in a mostly entertaining way - with plenty of little bard-related in-jokes (someone yells, "Out, out, damn Spot!" while letting out their dog named Spot, for example) Other gags reference everything from "Flashdance" to "Braveheart" to "American Beauty", to keep any adults made to watch this amused.
NITPICK POINT: The only thing that seemed out of place, when the movie got a little off-track and decided not to follow the original play any more, was the side bit about ordering the new, giant, fancy lawnmower. You have to first believe that the gnomes take an active role in doing garden work (I wish...), and then that they also understand the internet, that items can be ordered without a credit card and delivered the same day, that a mower will be delivered already gassed up and ready to go, etc. etc. It's a bit of a stretch, and using this fantastical device to advance the plot is relying on the same crutch as that "Three Musketeers" remake a couple of weeks ago - it's a case of "Machinus Ex Machina". There must a have been a better way to go.
Also starring the voices of James McAvoy (last seen in "X-Men: First Class"), Emily Blunt (last seen in "The Adjustment Bureau"), Michael Caine (last seen in "The Quiet American"), Maggie Smith (last seen in "A Room With a View"), Jason Statham (last seen in "The Italian Job"), Ozzy Osbourne, Jim Cummings (last heard in "Anastasia"), with cameos from Patrick Stewart (last heard in "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius"), Julie Walters and Hulk Hogan.
RATING: 5 out of 10 flower pots
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