Gnomeo & Juliet

Romeo and Juliet, one of the most well-known English language plays of all time, has inspired and influenced countless stories and received countless adaptations of its own. Since the setting doesn’t really matter for telling this story, it was perhaps inevitable that someone would have the idea of reenacting it with garden gnomes, as is the case with Gnomeo & Juliet. Although the film didn’t have the smoothest development, starting life as an Elton John passion project rejected by Disney until Miramax (under the same company) greenlit it in 2006, it did see the light of day through Disney’s Touchstone label (following a distribution shuffle) in 2011 to middling reviews, but a profitable box office run that earned nearly $200 million against a $36 million budget. In the years since, I had avoided watching the film based on the somewhat negative reputation that it and its sequel had developed. When I finally watched it through a 3D Blu-ray, however, I actually found it at least a bit more entertaining than its 55% Rotten Tomatoes score would suggest.

In Stratford, on Verona Street, two elderly neighbors, Mr. Capulet and Miss Montague, are in the midst of a longtime feud. When they leave their gardens, their garden gnomes, the blue-hatted Montague gnomes led by Lady Blueberry (Maggie Smith) and the red-hatted Capulet gnomes led by Lord Redbrick (Michael Caine), continue their owners’ feud. The night after a back-alley lawnmower race, in which Lady Blueberry’s son Gnomeo (James McAvoy) loses to Tybalt (Jason Statham), Gnomeo seeks revenge through vandalism, but gets caught in the act. During his escape, he runs into Juliet (Emily Blunt), who dislikes her father’s overprotective nature and snuck off in search of Cupid’s Arrow Orchid. Gnomeo and Juliet are immediately smitten with one another, but their feelings quickly grow complicated when they discover that they’re not the same color.

In spite of their warring families, Gnomeo (James McAvoy, left) and
Juliet (Emily Blunt, right) fall in love.

If you have any knowledge of Romeo and Juliet, then you have some idea of how the story plays out underneath the then-modern trappings and framing device of a gnome presenting a play. That said, this adaptation does set itself apart in how it takes advantage of its premise. The conflict between the garden gnomes acting as an extension of the feud between their owners is an original take and they commit by having the escalation of the conflict and its inevitable resolution affect and mirror what happens between Mr. Capulet and Miss Montague. The gnomes themselves, as well as other garden ornaments, also operate on Toy Story logic in that they freeze when observed by humans, but the movie doesn’t forget that they are garden ornaments and has a sense of realism through their interactions with the world around them.

Though the story does stick close to the source material, down to recreating the more famous scenes, it does still inject a sense of humor, enough that I laughed out loud a few times, without turning into a complete farce. For example, there’s a subplot where Miss Montague needs a new lawnmower and Benny wants her to order the hilariously destructive Terrafirminator, though the chaos that unfolds in its wake still feels dramatic. Gnomeo and Juliet’s romance generally follows the events of the source material, though there is a neat twist when they end up separated from one another and Gnomeo is determined to avoid tragedy. Although the story has a happier ending than the original play, it worked here due to the source of Gnomeo’s motivation. Other subplots also wrap up pretty neatly and it helps that the script did a good job at making some of the side characters likable.

Although the story isn’t the best version of the story ever told, the animation does do a good job of immersing the viewer in its unique world. Since the story focuses on garden gnomes, the camera is almost always kept low to the ground for a good sense of scale. This also gives action scenes like a lawnmower race a sense of power that they otherwise wouldn’t from our point of view. The various garden ornaments move in ways that are appropriate for their construction, including how a group of bunnies communicate through moving their ears or how a gnome duo remain stuck to their base and get around through more awkward hops and slides. I also liked the detail that the humans, who never show their faces, move at a higher framerate than the gnomes, almost like live-action. It certainly helps, of course, that the film features an attractive art style that allows for more expressive and stylized garden ornaments. Plus, the 3D effects still impress.

We also have a good understanding of what the gnomes' world looks like.

Perhaps owing to its all-star cast, the film has some good voice acting, especially from James McAvoy and Emily Blunt. Even Ozzy Osbourne does a decent job as Fawn, a miniature deer statue, though I’m not sure why the role would require him specifically (I could extend the same to Dolly Parton as a race announcer). Hulk Hogan, however, surprised as the announcer for the Terrafirminator ad on a computer screen and his bombastic energy felt appropriate. I should also mention Jim Cummings, a professional voice actor who does a great job as Featherstone, a plastic flamingo named for its creator, Don Featherstone.

One of the big draws, however, is the use of Elton John’s music throughout the film. Although it sounds like an odd match, some of his more well-known songs like “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” and “Rocket Man” (among others) are incorporated seamlessly, including as instrumentation. There are even two original songs, “Hello Hello” and “Love Builds a Garden”, that fit well with his diverse catalog. By the end, his music feels like an integral part of the film’s identity and you can’t imagine Gnomeo & Juliet without it.

Elton John even gets a brief visual nod.

Gnomeo & Juliet isn’t the best adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, but it’s a surprisingly entertaining. If you’re looking for a digestible version of the play, then, in this case, “entertaining” is all you really need.