Gnomeo & Juliet

Plot synopsis:
Mrs. Montague and Mr. Capulet (Julie Walters and Richard Wilson) are two elderly neighbours who despise each other. When they leave their respective gardens, their garden gnomes come alive. The Montague garden is filled with blue-hat gnomes, and the Capulet garden has red-hat gnomes. Like their human gardeners, the gnomes also despise each other.
The gnomes hold a back alley lawnmower race, with Gnomeo (James McAvoy) driving for the blues and Tybalt (Jason Statham) for the reds. Tybalt cheats to win the race, destroying Gnomeo's lawnmower. Gnomeo and his best friend, Benny (Matt Lucas), are disappointed to see Mrs. Montague ordering a new "kitty" lawnmower.
That night, Gnomeo and Benny infiltrate the red garden in black disguise. Benny sprays Tybalt's well and accidentally triggers a security light. During the escape Gnomeo ends up in a nearby garden where he bumps into a disguised Juliet (Emily Blunt), the daughter of the red gnomes leader Lord Redbrick (Michael Caine). Juliet is attempting to retrieve a unique orchid, and the two romantically fight over it. They each discover the other's color before fleeing the garden. When they both go back to their own gardens, Juliet tells her frog-sprinkler friend Nanette (Ashley Jensen) about her newfound love. Nanette states that the relationship is romantically tragic.
Gnomeo and Juliet have secret meetings in the nearby garden, where they meet a pink plastic flamingo named Featherstone (Jim Cummings) who encourages their love. Lord Redbrick pairs Juliet with a Red Gnome named Paris (Stephen Merchant), but Juliet isn't interested in him and distracts him with Nanette who has feelings for him.
Gnomeo's mother and the blue gnomes leader Lady Bluebury (Maggie Smith), is distraught after the reds infiltrate the garden and destroy the plant nurtured by Gnomeo's deceased father. The blues want Gnomeo to take revenge on the reds, and he realizes that he cannot refuse unless he tells his secret. Just as he is about to spray the prized tulips of the reds, Juliet sees him and he backs out of the attack.
When he and Juliet meet up again, they argue until Featherstone stops them, telling them he lost his wife when the two people living in the house, where the garden is, broke up and never saw each other again. Benny sees them and runs into the alleyway, where Tybalt is waiting with his lawnmower, attempting to run Benny down and chops off his hat. Gnomeo intervenes, and he and Tybalt fight on the red lawnmower until the lawnmower runs into the wall. Gnomeo jumps off at the last minute, but Tybalt crashes into the wall, destroying himself. The reds attempt to attack Gnomeo, thinking that Tybalt died because of him, but Juliet, to the surprise of her clan, defends Gnomeo, saying that she loves him. Gnomeo ends up on a road, and everyone believes he was run over by a truck. Lord Redbrick and the red gnomes glue Juliet's feet to her fountain because he does not want to lose her as she lost her mother.
Shroom, Gnomeo's mushroom friend finds out that Gnomeo is still alive (A blue teapot fell out of the truck that 'ran him over', which all the gnomes came to believe was Gnomeo), as he eventually reaches a park where he climbs onto a statue of William Shakespeare (Patrick Stewart) and tells him his story. Shakespeare tells Gnomeo that his story is very similar to Romeo and Juliet and that it is likely Gnomeo's will have a sad ending as well.
Benny gets onto Mrs Montague's computer and changes her lawnmower order to a powerful Terrafirminator unit, intending to get revenge on the reds. However, the Terrafirminator goes out of control, destroys most of the two gardens, and gets itself stuck while the gnomes wage a full-scale war. Gnomeo returns to Juliet with the help of Featherstone. However, when he arrives, the Terrafirminator frees itself, sending it flying. Gnomeo tries to un-glue Juliet, but is unable to. She tells him to go, but he refuses. The two share a passionate kiss just as the lawnmower crashes into the fountain, self-destructing in the process. When everyone believes that both are dead, Lord Redbrick and Lady Bluebury decide to end the feud. Miraculously, Gnomeo and Juliet emerge from the ruins and the two clans celebrate.
The film ends happily with the red and blue gnomes finally coming together to celebrate their newfound peace. Tybalt is revealed to still be alive having been glued back together, Featherstone is reunited with his wife after Benny finds and orders her online, Gnomeo and Juliet are married on a purple lawnmower, which symbolizes the new union of both gnome clans.

Tags: revenge

Review:
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.
Gnomeo and Juliet meet, and the rest is history as they say.Of course, the film can't follow the original play exactly - this is a kids movie!
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.
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.
No other writer lends himself to so many different film interpretations as William Shakespeare, whose plays have spawned musicals (West Side Story), teen comedies (10 Things I Hate About You), even cartoons (though not credited as such, Hamlet is an obvious source of inspiration for The Lion King).
Their mission is to find new ways to make the enemy garden look bad, and it all goes well - so to speak - until a full-scale war erupts, and star-crossed lovers Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) find themselves caught in the middle...The material is an unusual choice for Disney, which traditionally favors straightforward adaptations of popular stories (albeit with necessary alterations) over postmodern riffs that combine tribute and spoof.
Sure, there are in-jokes galore (the house numbers 2B and Not 2B are the standout), but the third act is particularly underwhelming, with too much screen-time for the mandatory talking animal sidekick (an annoying flamingo, voiced by Disney mainstay Jim Cummings) and a climax that has inevitably been altered - presumably - to keep the kids from crying.When it works, however, Gnomeo & Juliet is an absolute joy: the opening send-up of the play's prologue set the tone quite nicely, Elton John's contribution to the soundtrack is faultless, and the voice cast is a hoot.
Aside from the filmmakers having the nerve of putting Jason Statham and Ozzy Osbourne in the same film as Smith and Caine (surely a once in a lifetime kind of thing), the idea of incorporating Shakespeare himself as a character (voiced by Patrick Stewart) and having him criticize the film's plot detours is the self-mocking stroke of genius there should be more of throughout the movie.All in all, this is a nice little film that is worth watching for entertainment value.
The lite-version for kids, part of the fun here is the identification of the actual Romeo and Juliet references from names used right down to the incidents based upon William Shakespeare's most romantic tragedy, because it is quite ingenious of the entire team of scriptwriters (the many cooks here not spoiling the broth, thankfully) to have taken key elements and painting quite a different, uplifting film if you will, since this is after all something for the young ones to appreciate.Taking place between garden gnomes of adjacent gardens of bickering neighbours, the Reds (Capulets) and the Blues (Montagues) have this long standing feud that will make the romance of their children Gnomeo (voiced by James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) quite impossible, if not for the lovers to meet in secret.
The A-list voices will also be top draw, although animation may look a little stiff since it's modelled to perfection the porcelain clay that the gnomes are possibly made out of.Elton John's music got touted out loud through the film's marketing machinery, but frankly they don't really stand out unlike a musical since they were mostly used in the background, nor were inventively utilized such as those in the mold of Across the Universe which had plenty of The Beatles' tunes gelled together seamlessly into the narrative..
Anyway staying on subject what odds if this isn't entirelly faithful to Romeo and Julliet there's already adaptions that exist that are completely faithful to this well known story anyway :)This film is underrated if you ask me; it definitely succeeds in entertaining it's target audience and has a lot of good laughs on the way; my younger cousins loved it and even I laughed too; one particular scene I really liked was when Julliet said "Swim away be free" to a clay fish and then when she puts it into the water it just sinks to the bottom :) People whine far too much these days it's no wonder making a film is a lot harder than it was back then and I can't help but feel a lot of things that are considered classics would be nowhere near as successful if they were released in this day and age..
Gnomeo and Juliet is a good animation movie for kids.
With child-friendly alternatives to character names such as Gnomeo and Juliet and not forgetting Nanette the Frog playing Juliet's nurse and Featherstone the pink plastic flamingo occupying the role of Friar Lawrence, this movie has clear resemblances to the classic version of Romeo and Juliet, but in a way that an audience of any age can understand and enjoy.
While the movie is aimed at families with young children, it can be enjoyed by children of any age and in particular, older viewers who have read Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' in the past.
The plot of the original Shakespeare novel was well changed and flipped to match the whole "gnome" feature, and the animation and details put into the film were great, even for an animated movie.
And it's a lot less tragic.Act 1 – The voices of Gnomeo and Juliet consist of a popular cast mostly made up of Britons – James McAvoy as Gnomeo, Emily Blunt as Juliet, Michael Caine as Lord Redbrick, Matt Lucas as Benny, and Jason Statham as Tybalt plus the voices of Hulk Hogan, Ozzy Osborne, and Maggie Smith.Act 2 – Also quite clearly as an animation, this film was created for a young target audience.
This is exciting for those who enjoyed Toy Story, to see similar characters but certainly not as likable (alas), but to others it may just be considered a B grade rip-off.The final Act - Either one of two reactions could be predicted from everyone going to see Gnomeo and Juliet.
Judging from the reactions of the children in the same theatre, the latter reaction is the more likely one, and in that case Gnomeo and Juliet is actually a good film for the kids, which is honestly what it intended to be.Verdict: It isn't really Shakespeare, but does the young target audience care if it isn't?.
Gnomeo and Juliet was better than I thought, it is not among the best animated films of all time and it never tried to be, but it isn't among the worst.The story loosely based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is predictable with not that many surprises, but at least it didn't have a jarring change of tone and at least it went somewhere.
Adults will love or at least admire the voice cast, as all of them from Maggie Smith, Ashley Jenssen and Michael Caine to Patrick Stewart, Julie Walters and Jim Cummings are terrific.Overall, a decent movie that didn't try to be anything more than it was other than a fun and entertaining film.
I think what makes this movie so cute is the majority of the characters are garden gnomes that come to life when the humans aren't looking.
But for me, I'm not into William Shakespeare's work nor Romeo and Juliet.But a couple months ago, Touchstone studios released an animated retelling of the classic story except with...Gnomes.The movie was really good and it was really funny.
The music was also good because it was done by Elton John.The problems I have with this film is that the film feels a bit rushed at time's and the movie can be pretty boring."Gnomeo and Juliet", is a great animated film for the whole family to enjoy..
And a good tell of a great time, the audience clapped for the movie and stayed to watch credits even tho there were no bonus scenes as if no one wanted to the ride to end.Okay there are those who criticize it, and No this is NOT Shakespeare and it clearly lets you know that in the beginning!
This is particularly true when the bravos on each team decide to rev up their power mowers and do a little dirt-trackin' in the nabors' garden.There are some B+ names in the voice cast — James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Maggie Smith, Patrick Stewart, Jason Statham — but the animation looks cheap (often using either completely immobile scenery or just a plain pastel backdrop), and the story is ludicrous.
Gnomeo & JulietThe hardest part of reinterpreting William Shakespeare's tragic love story starring fabled forest creatures is finding two suicidal gnomes.Fortunately, the makers of this animated adaptation were able to find melancholy munchkins.Raised on opposite sides of Mr. Capulet and Mrs. Montague's fence, a blue garden gnome, Gnomeo (James McAvoy), and a red garden gnome, Juliet (Emily Blunt), are sworn enemies, though they've never met.It's not until Gnomeo seeks revenge against Juliet's cousin (Jason Statham), after an ill-fated lawnmower race, that the star-crossed lovers meet.Though both families denounce the union, the two continue to meet in an overrun garden, where a lovesick flamingo fosters their relationship.Adhering to the bard's prose, while simultaneously lampooning it, this star-studded interpretation is amusing and inventive.Luckily, this story doesn't take place on a white trash lawn, because then Romeo would be a talking couch and Juliet, an abandoned car.
But that doesn't mean it can't be a cute, enjoyable, witty spin on Romeo and Juliet, with two backyards full of garden gnomes (and other garden features like frog fountains) at war with each other, and star-crossed lovers from each side falling in love in spite of it all.And who can dislike the voice cast?
James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith - some of Britain's very best bring character and comedy to their parts -- as do, in their own weird way Ozzy Osborne and Hulk Hogan in cameo roles (For that matter who could resist any film that brought such a surreal bunch of voices together?).Yes, this isn't an all-time classic.
James McAvoy as Gnomeo, and Emily Blunt for Juliet - they even brought in Ozzy Osbourne and Jason Statham.The movie will have you laughing at times, and sad at others - it definitely does a great job of bringing out the emotions.
Little changes like this make the film more accessible to younger audiences while offering extra gags to adults who know the story of Romeo and Juliet.
I would say perhaps and while it was a good try it just felt to rushed and detached, even for a family movie.Everyone knows that story of Romeo and Juliet so when a family version was planned, with cute looking garden gnomes substituting for people, it was inevitable that certain parts would changed.
But the down sides far outweigh the good.Benny's scene time is too short, the love story between Gnomeo and Juliet is too rushed not giving us enough time to actually find out how likable either character is, leaving me to care for neither one.
Various lines of classic Shakespearean dialog (not just from Romeo and Juliet) make sporadic appearances throughout.I was expecting this film to be quite cute for kids, like most animations, but a quiet payout of Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet for the adults - it actually opens doing just that and I got all excited hearing a little garden gnome saying "Before this story is this large introduction" He then reads about 4 lines of the opening of R&J and then says something along the lines of "Blah Blah Blah - let's just get on with it".
For young kids this is fine as they can get a very VERY remote piece of Shakespearean education in some cute colors but for me none of the characters get even close to the likability of any of the characters from Toy Story plus R&J is one of my all time favorite stories and films (I love you Leo).There is some good music from Elton John spread throughout the film that lifts it a bit and while I did not watch it in 3D I could seem some scenes that could be good in 3D.
My husband & I have an ongoing joke...that he's gonna be the size of a gnome by the time he's 90.So when we saw the ad for Gnomeo & Juliet,of course we couldn't wait for the movie to come to town.We haven't seen it yet because we're waiting for Tuesday 1/2 price night (that way if it wasn't as good as we hope then it wasn't a complete waste of money & better yet,it was a date night with my hard working man).
I gotta say some people's comments on here just goes to show people nowadays have no sense of humour & take things WAY to seriously.How anyone could think this movie would be a play by play account of the real Romeo & Juliet we have no idea.The title alone shows it's going to be a comedy not to mention it's animated.Anyone watching the ad on TV would also see it's not a tragedy...sheesh it has Ozzy Osbourne in it...how serious could it be??
We think people need to lighten up...I come to this sight to see if there's a consensus on a certain movie we wanna see(we live almost 40kms from our theatre so it's very rarely we treat ourselves to one)and today we found a lot more positives than negatives.I especially appreciated the 1 comment that says any adult innuendo goes unnoticed by children (which I've seen numerous times with animated movies in the past) because my girls never caught onto any of it back then and now that they're grown they love watching them & laughing at what they "missed".
In this CG-animated feature film Gnomeo and Juliet (parody of Romeo and Juliet), the garden gnomes of two elderly neighbors, Mrs. Montague and Mr. Capulet who dislike each other, come alive when they leave.
As for the story, I couldn't help but feel this film was weighed down by the all too familiar aspects of the Romeo and Juliet plot, but I suppose this could be a good intro to the play for the kids.
GNOMEO AND JULIETAnother animated film for the holidays.This film is basically Romeo and Juliet but with garden gnomes as the characters.
With the gnomes version of Toy Story characters and smart writing added with Elton John's soundtrack, Gnomeo and Juliet is a kid version of Shakespeare's love tragedy..
I'm a fan of the story of Romeo and Juliet in all kinds of adaptions and think there were some clever ways of feeding in original lines and keeping with the traditional mix up alive without disturbing young children.With an all star cast, it was amusing and fun for the young, but perhaps not quite up there with some of the great animated tales..
Pretty Bland, Very Meh. The neighboring gardens of Montague and Capulet are at war, but the gnomes, Gnomeo and Juliet, are in love.As they point out in the beginning, the story of Romeo and Juliet has been done many times...
Film makers :if you are making movies aimed at children then rewatch the toy stories and keep things basic.fair enough older kids will get gnomeo and Juliet, but all ages get and enjoy toy story!.
Yes, garden gnomes and decorations come to life but that's were the similarity between the two ends.I did not go in expecting to see a cartoon version of Romeo and Juliet so I was not disappointed one bit and thankfully, this story does not share the tragic end of the original tale.
I honestly don't know why someone would think that it would be a great idea to recreate a Shakespeare play with garden gnomes, but apparently somebody in Hollywood considered that this idiotic premise would work in some way.Well, as everyone expected, this didn't work.Besides of the extremely idiotic premise, this movie failed to be remotely funny or interesting, and had many lame and clichéd characters.
Apart from its leading characters (Gnomeo voiced by James McAvoy and Juliet by Emily Blunt), Nanette, Featherstone and even the Shroom add fun to the movie.
An animated take on the classic tale of Romeo and Juliet, this children's tale tells the story of two feuding gardens – the red gnomes of the Capulet house versus the blue gnomes of the Montague house – as they battle with each other and the film itself battles with adapting one of the best known stories in history.
One example of how she does this is the opening scene when the gnome begins reading out the prologue and in one way it seem this film may be mocking Shakespeare's original play of Romeo and Juliet as the prologue is described as boring.