GNOMEO & JULIET -- Review

To 3D or not 3D, that is the question. Okay, not really but you get the joke. Much like that weak pun, Gnomeo & Juliet has its moments to shine, before falling to pieces. The cute kid friendly take on Romeo and Juliet does a decent job introducing the classic play to children, but falls flat with many of its jokes. Unlike Shrek, Gnomeo (which is a Disney film) appears to forget what it's trying to achieve mid-way through the film. One of the reasons why so many love the original Shrek is because it took something from almost every animation we had available to us growning up and included it in the parodies throughout its story. Gnomeo (being "family friendly Disney") tried to pun its way through classic Shakespeare, but forgot the puns. It could have taken advantage of all the Disney tales that have come before and used them to create fun new jokes for kids. If only they could laugh at themselves a little, especially since they are releasing the film as a Touchtone production. Instead we get a parody of an American Beauty scene, which seems a bit out of place, if you know what I mean.


Gnomeo & Juliet tells the story of rival gnomes (the Reds and the Blues) that live in the backyards of Mr Capulet and Miss Montague, which is separated by a wooden fence. Much like Toy Story, the gnomes come to life to continue their war when the humans are not home or looking into the backyards. The play on how ridiculous some of the garden gnomes can be is brought to life when the war between Reds and Blues is nearly discovered and they must "freeze". It is not until Gnomeo meets Juliet before the real trouble starts. The only difference between the real Romeo and Juliet and this animated version is that there is only one tragic, or rather one tragically funny death for poor ol' Tybalt.

The biggest highlight for the adults in the audience will be the star-studded cast that lends their voices to the entertaining lawn ornaments. With stars like Michael Caine (Lord Redbrick), Maggie Smith (Lady Bluebury), Patrick Stewart (Bill Shakespeare), James McAvoy (Gnomeo), Emily Blunt (Juliet), Ozzy (Fawn), Hulk Hogan (Terrafirminator), Jason Statham (Tybalt) and last but not least Dolly Parton (Dolly Gnome) it is no wonder the film does, at the very least, keep us entertained. The only issue I have with the film is it does not hold up to the names attached. Like Disney films that have come before, Gnomeo attempts to include a handful of songs, but fails miserably to add anything to the story or have any significance to that being portrayed on the screen, only adding minutes to those particular scenes where they are included, making it feel like the scenes will drag on forever. I felt that the addition of the songs were nothing more than an after thought, drawn up because the original running time was too short to be considered a feature film and were the best they could come up with to fill the run time. A good example of the use of music is when "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" was played in full, which almost mocks the use in Miramax's Ella Enchanted. If only more effort was put out to make a quality film and the budget was directed towards better writing instead of on a 3D distribution, which added nothing to the film, but at the prices one pays to view a 3D movie, add much to Disney’s bottom line.

Gnomeo & Juliet is a cute story, although a poor attempt on Disney’s part to come up with a Shrek-like film. The use of 3D is pulled off, however there is really no point to it. Unlike Yogi Bear, there are no flying turtles, bears or anything that flies at the screen for that matter. Although this was the first 3D film that did not leave me walking out of the theater with a headache, unlike the recently released Sanctum which I’m still feeling the pain. I wish studios would get over their 3D kick and just give us some quality films. Gnomeo & Juliet will entertain young children, and it’s nice to see that they are getting introduced to some classic literature, though, in Disney’s typical style, rewrites the storyline to a more family friendly tale. It is an ideal film for parents or relatives of children under the age of 10.
 
I give Gnomeo & Juliet a 3 out of 5.