Gnomeo and Juliet

A tale of love of star-crossed lovers torn apart by their feuding families doomed to never be together. Sound familiar? Of course it does but the classic story receives an unconventional twist when it is told by gnomes, which provides an entertaining, witty comedy.

If you really need me to give a synopsis of this movie you probably fell asleep in English, but here it goes anyway. Gnomeo (voiced by James McAvoy) is a blue gnome and Juliet (voiced by Emily Blunt) is a red gnome. The blues and the reds have been feuding, since… well a long time. One fateful evening while both Gnomeo and Juliet are trying to acquire an orchid that will put the other garden to shame, but they end up falling for each other, which proves to be a big problem since they’re supposed to hate each other, not fall in love.

The basic plot is a lot closer to “Romeo and Juliet” than one might think (not the ending of course, it is a kids movie). The story is familiar, with in the first few seconds it admits that this story has been done… a lot. However, this particular version has never been told before, borrowing from Shakespeare’s classic and a little from “Toy Story” gives the movie an interesting twist.

“Gnomeo and Juliet” has plenty of laughs, but there are few requirements if you’re going to understand all of them and be able to enjoy the movie. However, the kids at the movie seemed to enjoy the movie well enough without understanding all the “Romeo and Juliet” references and puns so the formula isn’t exact.

First of all, you have to know the original, you don’t have to have it memorized, but there are references throughout the entire movie that point to Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” Even Gnomeo himself has a conversation with Shakespeare (well, his statue) about his problems. Some of the biggest laughs in “Gnomeo and Juliet” come from poking fun or eluding to “Romeo and Juliet” and if you aren’t familiar enough with it, you could miss it.

Second, you have to love a good pun because this movie is filled with them. For example when a frog named Nanette (voiced by Ashley Jenson) meets a mushroom she exclaims, “Oh, you look like a fun guy!” If you don’t enjoy that style of humor or you just don’t understand it, don’t waste your time with a movie that uses that British style for most of its laughs.

Also, it can be a little random sometimes, but a good, funny random (not a “what the heck is going on?” random) that once again fits the British style. For example sometimes scenes turn into day-dream sequences or a dance routine.

The characters in “Gnomeo and Juliet” are definitely unique, besides the fact that they’re gnomes. They each have their own personality. Juliet is supposed to be “delicate” but she can be quite the fighter. Gnomeo is big, tough guy who doesn’t like to lose, and is willing to risk his life for Juliet. Nanette and Benny (voiced by Matt Lucas) both play the not-all-that-intelligent characters. All the characters come to together to round out the story.

The uniqueness of the characters also is displayed in the look of the characters. The gnomes all look different, while still keeping with the red and blue theme, and hold different poses. Some have bigger hats and some smaller. Some are connected to each other, which causes humorous results. Almost all of them have some kind of quirk.

The animators also never forgot that the characters were gnomes, not people (in fact people are never fully seen). When Gnomeo and Juliet hold hands, they’re hands clink as they touch. The tools they use are often modified garden tools. They tactfully avoid blood by using what all gnomes fear: breaking. The breaking is how “Gnomeo and Juliet” deals with characters about to face death.

“Gnomeo and Juliet” isn’t a perfect movie, there is a side story that sometimes seems to fit the story and other times seems to distract from it. However, “Gnomeo and Juliet” is a fun take on a classic that is full of Shakespeare jokes and witty puns, but unfortunately not everyone likes this type of humor. So if you liked movies like “Flushed Away” and “Chicken Run” then get thee to a theatre.