Movie Review: Gnomeo and Juliet (2011)

Hello!
Today is the last day of Hamlette's We ❤ Shakespeare Blogathon (check out the Master Post HERE)!

I've had so much fun writing my other two posts, but this has been my favorite. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it! The button I chose to put here is another Romeo and Juliet retelling, but this is my favorite of all the ones that I have watched!

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning.

Gnomeo and Juliet (2011):

Based on: Romeo and Juliet - by William Shakespeare.

"The story you are about to see has been told before...a lot. And now we are going to tell it again...but differently."

This story is about next door neighbor's garden gnomes. Like their owners they are bitter enemies. It's the blues vs. the reds! They like to show each other up by racing lawnmowers down the alley. When the blues's mower gets wrecked by a red, two blues, Gnomeo and Benny, plan for revenge. They are also very proud of their gardens. The leader of the reds is very protective of his daughter, Juliet. She spots a rare flower and decides fetch it to prove to her father that she doesn't need to be protected. Gnomeo and Juliet meet and fall for each other without knowing the other's color! As it is later pointed out, "It's doomed."

Genre: Romance, Comedy.

Length: approx. 84 minutes.

Costumes: 7, there is one gnome that goes around without really any clothes on, and we see people's underthings, but besides that they are good.

Script: 9, no bad words that I recall!
"How romantically tragic."

Crew:

Directed by: Kelly Asbury

"'Okay, I'm thinking of a movie that is one word and it sounds like "spider".'

'Is it "Spiderman"?'

'You're good!'"

Written by: Kelly Asbury, Mark Burton, Andy Riley, Kevin Cecil, Emily Cook, Kathy Greenberg, Steve Hamilton Shaw, John R. Smith, & Rob Sprackling.
Starring the voices of:
James McAvoy as Gnomeo.

Emily Blunt as Juliet. 
"'When will you realize that you are delicate?'
'I'm not delicate!'"
Matt Lucas as Benny.

Jason Statham as Tybalt.
Ashley Jensen as Nanette. (She is on the red side, but she is actually green because she is a frog.)
Jim Cummings as Featherstone.
Michael Caine as Lord Redbrick.

Maggie Smith as Lady Bluebury.
Patrick Stewart as William Shakespeare.
Stephen Merchant as Paris.

Ozzy Osbourne as Fawn.
Kelly Asbury as Red Goon Gnomes.
Dolly Parton as Dolly Gnome.
James Daniel Wilson as Fishing Gnome.

Animation: 9, as you well know, I'm not a fan of digital animation, but I love this!!

Music: 10, they did such a good job with this! All of the music is based on Elton John's and for "Your Song" they changed the words to make it for garden gnomes. But, my favorite part is when the character Benny is hitting buttons. Each button he hits makes a noise and he plays out the opening for "Benny and the Jets"!

Music by: James Newton Howard, Chris Bacon, and Elton John.

Quotes: 9, "Oh, Gnomeo, Gnomeo, are we really doomed to never see each other again? Why must you wear a blue hat? Why couldn't it be red like my father? Or green like a leprechaun? Or purple, like...uh...like...um...like some weird guy?"

Sorry, I had to put this picture here because the face she makes when she says "weird guy" always cracks me up.

Notes: This movie is so great! It has so many Shakespeare references! They live on Verona Drive, their owners names are Miss Montague and Mr. Capulet, we see references/Easter eggs to the plays As You Like It, The Tempest, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, and I think there is one for King Lear, but I'm not familiar with that one so I'm not positive. They even changed some of the lines in Romeo and Juliet to make them fit!
"I don't know, a weed by any other name is still a weed."

Storyline: 8, there is some crude humor, suggestive things, separation, dealing with revenge (though it shows that it is bad), and the gnomes fight a bit.
"Other people's hate destroyed my love, and I could do nothing about it."

Overall Score: 8.5!

Bonus thoughts: I do know some people who don't like it, but I do, and they did a really good job making this!


A huge thank you to Hamlette for hosting this! I had a great time. Once again, go check out the other posts HERE!

Thanks for reading! Have you seen this movie? What do you think?

MovieCritic