Disney’s Gnomeo and Juliet is a rather interesting (on paper anyway) mix of Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed lovers and the world of the ornamental garden gnome. Really! Seriously – who thinks this stuff up?
Disney’s Gnomeo and Juliet is a rather interesting (on paper anyway) mix of Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed lovers and the world of the ornamental garden gnome. Really! Seriously – who thinks this stuff up?
Actually, the clue is in the company that produced the film – Rocket Pictures – an English company. Elton John’s music features in the film and his partner David Furnish is executive producer.
And once you start looking at the cast of voices – you realise it is a distinctly English film. And even though this film is shot in 3D, don’t think for a moment that you are going to get anything other than a distinctly English film. No whizz bang super fast story line – so fast it makes your head spin… just a loose storyline with lots of running gags and masses of random character actors lending their expertise (and comedy chops) to the film.
It felt to me like a film that a bunch of mates had done it just for the fun of working together. James McAvoy is the voice of Gnomeo (of the Blueburys) and Emily Blunt is his Juliet (of the Redbricks) – sworn enemies each in adjoining and crass gardens. There is the action star Jason Stratham voicing the slightly demented Tybalt, (who comes to a smashing end) as a garden mower-racing thug. His sidekick is the lawn ornament deer who is thicker then two short planks, and is voiced by the wonderful Ozzy Osbourne who manages to get many of the best laughs in the film. Bless him for being so happy to laugh at himself.
One of the most obvious cameos is Dolly Parton as the overly painted “Dolly Gnome” – another who is happy to laugh at herself. Watch out for Patrick Stewart as Bill Shakespeare, Jim Cummings at Featherstone the crazy pink plastic flamingo, Julie Waters as Miss Montague, Richard Wilson as Mr Capulet, Matt Lucas as Benny, Maggie Smith (of Harry Potter fame) as Lady Bluebury and the true gentleman Michael Caine as Juliet’s Dad, Lord Redbrick.
This is a film released by Touchstone, which is owned by Disney and usually reserved for their scarier, non-family fodder. So why this is released by them, I am unsure – except that it isn’t a film of Pixar calibre – so maybe they just want to keep it separate. It is however a good family film.
As I have said before, there are often scary bits in films some Disney animation films that can overwhelm small people. There is no chance of that with this film. ALL the small people that came with us LOVED it – giving it a strong 3 out of 5. Interestingly they all mentioned the really funny moments in the film, but even the 8 year old thought the ending was a bit too quick and you are left feeling like it could have done with another 5 minutes more. There were lots of really small people around us (4 and 5) all having a rollicking good time and laughing at all the right bits.
The grown ups might just find it a bit slow going. Though if you are finding it a bit slow – see if you can name all the many Elton John songs they use, and how many different lines from Shakespeare they manage to get into the film. Excellent!
Oh – and see if you can work out what character Hulk Hogan plays.
By Anya Brighouse 7 February 2011.
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