Gnomeo & Julia

In the beautiful British town of Stratford-Upon-Avon there's a street where the owners of two neighbouring houses have no idea of the rich lives being led in their backyards. In these backyards there are two groups of garden gnomes - one garden is ruled by the blue hatted variety, the other is ruled by the red hatted variety. An age old feud - of which the reason has long since been forgotten - is keeping them apart, but unexpected events might just be enough to get them back together again.

Loosely based on the Shakespearean tragedy Romeo And Juliet this animation film keeps the middle line between tragicomedy and romance. Like many animation films being made these last years it combines fun things for kids with fun things for adults - without hurting either group (the innuendo that is fun for adults is not seen by kids whose innocence protects them from it, the deviation from the original tales to make it fun for kids is not so warped that it makes it unrecognisable for them parents).

The animation is great - the gnomes and the gardens are just lovely to watch. The setting with gnomes is flawless - the sounds, the implications of being a garden gnome - it works out really well.

If there would be one bit of negativity for this film it is that its trailer is a bit too biased towards an audience that wants to see romance instead of a bit of light comedy.

8 out of 10 midsummer night's dreams

Cut the pretentious crud. This film is obviously intended to entertain a younger audience, and it does a good job at doing that, while somewhat tactfully putting in some jokes for the parents. No, it's not spectacular. If you watch this movie expecting something "Grade A", you're not going to get much out of it.

The plot: generic, predictable. But obviously so, considering it's called "Gnomeo and Juliet".

The cast is an oddball compilation of respectable actors, with the exception of the obscure addition of Ozzy. But what is really keeping this movie going is the cuteness of it. That is the selling point, and what makes it most appealing. If you go into this movie expecting something more, you will be left disappointed. So I suggested you loosen up, look for a laugh, and you'll enjoy it more. It's not a bad film.

When I first saw trailers for "Gnomeo & Juliet", I groaned at the thought: Romeo and Juliet as told by garden gnomes? Really? Aside from the obvious absurdity of the concept, I wondered exactly how faithfully they'd stick to the story. The ending of Shakespeare's original story would prove awfully dark for the young audiences that would be naturally drawn to this.

So, with these reservations in mind I saw the film last night with my 7 and 10 year old daughters, and found myself enjoying the movie much more than I expected to. Is the concept absurd? Sure, but the writers made plenty of clever use of that absurdity, with some great sight gags and setups.

I won't go into detail on the issue of the original's dark ending, but the writers here found a sly way to acknowledge that original ending without having to actually incorporate it in this loose remake.

Elton John is credited as an Exec Producer (and his partner David Furnish has a Producer credit as well). The movie makes liberal use of EJ's music, generally to good effect.

And my daughters both loved it. Great family fare.

Okay, so I bought myself a pack of 10 movie-tickets from Hoyts and thought "what the heck" lets see a movie with the family. So, we went for Gnomeo and Juliet and we really, really enjoyed it. Yes, the movie is predictable from start to finish, but I say: "So what!" It's supposed to be a family/kids movie and we all know that this movie is not going to end like the real Romeo and Juliet. The characters are funny, the voices are great, the flamingo(s) even better. The Terrafirmanator is cool - I would like to order three and have them delivered within the next 5 minutes. Mixing in the music of good old Sir Elton John makes the movie even better - it becomes so English! Mmmm... the end-scene did remind me of Shrek a lot (just a lot softer, which makes sense them being a bunch of garden gnomes - they are quite fragile), but it's still very, very positive. Yeah, I believe Gnomeo and Juliet is a must see for the family - you won't regret it. Oh, please observe the sound when the gnomes happen to touch each other - I think the sound artists have done a fantastic job!

I had initially heard good stuff about this animated movie, so I decided to give it a go! The story, well sure it is loosely based on the Romeo & Juliet story, but it is more than just that. There is also a bunch of comedy in the story, along with some really interesting characters.

The CGI animation looked really cool and were nicely made. Lots of really great details in the scenes and the in each characters. It was obvious that lots of efforts had been put into this.

As for the best part of the movie, well that would simply have to be the list of voice actors/actresses. Holy moly! There is such a bunch of really good names on this list, James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Patrick Stewart and a bunch others. There were also some really cool cameo appearances by Hulk Hugan and Ozzy Osbourne.

That being said, then the movie was somewhat shallow. Sure it had enough entertainment value for one watching, but I doubt it highly that I will ever be watching this movie ever again. For an animation of 2011 it didn't quite reach up to the likes such as "How to Train Your Dragon", "Megamind" or "Despicable Me". The movie is beautifully made, but it just lacks something vital.

A good enough movie for an evening of entertainment, but it is about as far as it goes.