Interesteg What makes it different from others?

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Tim Kerr-Thomson Obviously the basis of the story is Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" which would be unknown to its targeted kids audience. But unlike the serious original it's a light story with plenty of fun for children. For adults watching it with kids there are plenty of references to Shakespeare's other works to keep you guessing and amused. Kids and Adults alike will also enjoy the soundtrack which is composed of all Elton Johns music played in different ways.

mdurkin-49013 Romeo and Juliet is undoubtedly one of the most popular Shakespearean tragedies to take to the stage. Many stimulating film adaptations of the play have been created over the years insuring the story of the star-crossed lovers could be forever cherished by Shakespearean fans. However the film adaption "Gnomeo and Juliet" which was directed by the wonderful Kelly Asbury could be described as.. a little different! The animation took to the screens in the year 2011. It is a fun-like, heart -warming adaption that certainly left me feeling less disheartened than previous adaptations and definitely a lot more anticipative about the theory of "falling in love". The film was released in Ireland In February 11th for the upcoming Valentine's Day. I was intrigued to discover how such a dramatic love story could be adapted into an eighty-two minute long comedy dominated by garden gnomes and talking flamingos, but this connection surprisingly works a treat. Despite the release of the film's animating advertisements which were mainly at the younger generation, it is abounding with good humour and a soundtrack of Elton John classic making it also perfect for a family movie night in with the kids. The Walt Disney Pictures production is set in the back gardens of two neighboring households that are continuously at feud. One similarity to the 1968 film adaption of the Shakespearean play is the use of color to distinguish between the two households. The blue gnomes, which appear in the Montague's garden are led by lady blueberry (Maggie Smith), while the red acolytes of Miss Montague's home are led by Lord Redbrick (Michael Caine)."Gnomeo" is a young Montague who wears a blue hat, he is voiced by the talented James McAvoy and is horrified to discover that he has fallen for "Juliet" a sweet little red played by the London born actress Emily Blunt. It is to their misfortune that Juliet is the daughter of the Lord Redbrick and leader of the enemy garden.The stumpy little gnomes are instantly drawn to each other during an unexpected meet at night on the top of a greenhouse while both rebelling against their garden families. Like Gnomeo, Juliet is completely dressed in camouflage, and the lovers are blissfully unaware of their opposite colorings. The meeting scene is quite adorable and bursting with playful innocence rather than predictable romantic gestures. Juliet discovers her feelings for the gnome after the pair depart and she returns back to her guardian "Nanette" (Ashley Jensen) the ever so bubbly green frog. Nanette was a personal favorite of mine! She is an active companion to little Juliet playing a role very similar to the "Nurse" in the original script, however the frog is a far more lovable, fun character. It is no surprise when she is found at the center of the most humorous, face palming moments in the film.A blushing Juliet is oozing with excitement for a daring date with her smitten Gnomeo, who spruces himself up nicely for the occasion. Gnomeo and Juliet must decide whether their love for each other is strong enough to violate their own families' wishes. As the storyline broadens and the plot continues, different eruptions occur between the enemy gardens leaving Gnomeo and his beloved caught in the middle. The plot is dramatically thickened when violence breaks out between a red (Tybalt) and Gnomeo's best friend Benny. Tybalt slices into Benny and in return Gnomeo then slices into a firing Tybalt. The 2011 classic adapts to genres such as comedy, family, romance, and animation. It certainly maintains a steady balance between the classical Shakespearean storyline, and its fresh interpretation. There are a number of interesting features included in the film that expose its modernity and natural edge. The introduction commences with use of intriguing music to set the scene. Then to one's surprise a tiny gnome appears and introduces the story with a "prologue", his speech is comical and he light-heartedly mocks Shakespeare's works essentially stating the blunt truth "the story you are about to see has been told before a lot". The sharp-witted appearance of Shakespeare was cleverly woven in, where he looks to be self-mocking himself in a harmless way. As a Shakespearean fan I could correlate immediately to these inside jokes. It is features like this that prove the film's enjoyment for a generation a little older.If you are looking to be blown away by the ever so beautiful romance that is expressed between Romeo and Juliet all over again, you will be disappointed w. However if you have a rather light-hearted humour and feel rather ill thinking of the tragedy of true love, you will enjoy the animation. The story of the garden gnomes is brought to a climax with a contrasting cheesy rendition of Elton John's "crocodile rock" rather than the suicidal sorrows of two conflicting families in the beautiful Verona.

Jonathan Carton This delightful film is the perfect adaptation of Romeo and Juliet for children. Actually, it's probably the only appropriate one for children; nevertheless it does the job well. Set in the back gardens akin to those in Coronation Street with all the right amount of craftiness of Toy Story. We see the forbidden love story between two garden gnomes from rival gardens. It seems silly but believe me when I say that this is an overlooked gem. Gnomeo and Juliet has a lot more to give than meets the eye. Set in the present day, we follow Gnomeo, a 'blue', and Juliet, a 'red'; which is denoted by the colour of their pointed gnome hats. Bear with me. They reside in the gardens of the two semi-detached houses and for some reason, the residents of these houses hate each other.As I mentioned earlier, it borrows all the successful plot devices from Toy Story that made that such a pioneering piece of storytelling. For example, the gnomes cannot be seen moving by humans for fear of getting caught. Somehow it works and does not at all feel like it's ripping off what made Toy Story so great; it feels fresh. The distinct style of animation is gorgeous. It is a pleasant film to sit back and observe. The detailing in the design of the characters must be noted. Its full beauty can is shown to its full potential in scenes such as the one where we see Gnomeo and Juliet getting ready for their first date together.The films own brand of self-reflexive comedy is telling for the age of its creation. As shown through many an awkward situation and perfectly timed cutaway gags. The 'chorus' gnome reads aloud to the audience about the forthcoming events in the film; all the while poking fun about the amount of times the story has been told before on film. There are a number of innuendoes that younger viewers might miss out on, but might get a laugh or two out of a more mature, albeit immature, audience. Such is seen when Nanette presses Juliet about the size of Gnomeo hat. I strongly believe that the casting choices of the film would translate well to a live-action version of the film. James McAvoy lends his voice to a passionate and poetic version of Romeo, while Emily Blunt sees that Juliet is given sweetness with a brazenness that can only be a product of her British charm. Both actors have enough experience in dramatic acting to pull off the brooding yet optimistic couple. Jason Statham plays hot-headed Tybalt which perfectly mimics Statham's on-screen reputation in his high-octane action films. We see a stellar cast of standout comedic performances from characters such as Nanette the frog and Fawn the deer, voiced by Ashley Jensen and Ozzy Osbourne respectively. Characters such as Featherstone are fully realised; there is no loose end in any minor characters story. In short, the casting of characters and storytelling just works superbly.The film strives to be a separate work from the text of the source material and I believe it succeeded in doing so. All the corresponding elements are there such as the characters, the plot and the story; but they still manage to make it its own show. On first viewing, I found the storytelling more evocative than that of its source material. After Tybalts death, I felt genuine feelings of sadness instead of the little to no sympathy I am used to giving the situation in every other film adaptation of the play. The characters deliver compressed versions of the source materials text throughout the film, but it never takes away from the films intelligence. The film is masterful in its delivery of recognisable quotes from the original play through the context of the dialogue.What I found particularly enjoyable were the Easter Eggs found throughout to keep adult viewers on their toes. For example, in Featherstones flashback there are 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern' moving trucks as a nod to the Hamlet characters of the same name and in Gnomeos break through the city, there is a bus which has Stratford Upon Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace, as its destination. However, this is a lengthy list for another day. I commend the finer details in some of the choices that were made in the production of this film. As a pop culture fanatic, perhaps one of my favourite moments in the film was Patrick Stewarts cameo as the statue of William Shakespeare as a nod to his work with Royal Shakespeare Company. A similar moment of cultural recognition is made when Nanette is being serenaded by Paris, voiced by Stephen Merchant. We see a shot of Nanette covered in rose petals that visually resembles the infamous shot from American Beauty. Moments like these go over the heads of the target audience, but that's just the beauty of this film. Yes, it is a film aimed at children but it is more than that. It's not just family friendly but it can actually be enjoyed by all.Initially, I was apprehensive about watching this film. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised with a warm and well-natured adaptation of one of my favourite stories of all time. Admittedly, it had a lot to live up to what with being an adaptation of not only one of the most famous plays from the world's greatest writer. It had its work cut out for itself, to say the least. Perhaps it was because it was a children's film that naturally gave it the allure of being low-brow and below any critical success. However, my assumptions were proved wrong upon first watch and I undoubtedly will watch it again.

ironhorse_iv I like chilling with my Gnomes, but this movie kinda ruin or dumb down William Shakespeare's work. I hate that the opening prologue of the film is really disrespectful of William Shakespeare's brilliant writing, by saying its boring. I really don't think the writers of this film knew, how much an understatement that was. Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet at its core, is a tragic, violent love story with plenty of sexual innuendo, and humor to entertain anybody. By saying it's boring, is just ignorant and uneducated. The movie premise is a bit off-putting. Shakespeare's much beloved tragedy turn into a cutsey CGI animation movie about gnomes with little to no depth of the story, left. I'm willing to get off my high horse, and give this movie, a chance with an open minded. After all, there has been tons of outrageous retellings of Shakespeare's work, like 2005's Pizza My Heart, where a son and daughter of two rival pizzeria owners fall in love, much to the disapproval of both families or 2013's Warm Bodies- where a zombie and a human female fall in love, much to their factions disapproval. Even 1961's West Side Story was look down by purists as straying too far from the source material. Still, it's like retelling violent/sexual full book like Hamlet with cute talking pigs. Directed by Kelly Asbury, the movie is about two feud neighboring gardens gnomes; The Blues AKA the Montagues and the Reds AKA Capulet. Both are trying to outdo the other, with how nice, their garden could look. In this war is Gnomeo of Montague (James McAvoy) & Juliet of Capulet (Emily Blurt) whom happen to fall in love with each other. Both wish, the end of this bitter fighting. Can they end this bitter fighting with love or would the two warring factions hatred toward each other, sweep them off their feet, into tragic territory. If you go into Gnomeo and Juliet with an open mind, and you'll find this adaptation quite original and amusing. It does have some funny humor jokes that were mostly a hit than miss for me. I love the Hulk Hogan voice over for the ad for the Terrafirminator claimed that looking at it would cause people's heads to explode. That make me laugh. The joke about martial arts movies might so much. I love the inside jokes of William Shakespeare references like the moving company named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. There is also a truck labeled Tempest Teapots and the "Taming of the Glue" brand seen later in the movie. Looks for Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth and As You like it references. Look forward to other movies references like 1994's Forrest Gump & 1967's The Graduate & 2006's Borat. It was Easter egg fun, finding those. The animation is well-done and the voice acting pretty interesting. Great main cast and supporting cast. While the movie was written for Kate Winslet as Juliet and Ewan McGregor as Gnomeo, I have to think the replacement voice actors, Emily Blurt and James McAvoy did great in their roles. Some voice actors really stand out like Jim Cumming as Featherstone, while others like Ozzy Osbourne as Fawn weren't notice. I have to say, the soundtrack by producer Elton John was awesome. Nice to see John's best songs like "Bennie and the Jets," "I'm still Standing," "Crocodile Rock," and "Your Song" -- are all incorporated in the score. Still, there are some faults to the film, like how the movie sways away from the source material, skipping a lot of information key scenes like Queen Mab sequence, the whole Poison idea, and the changing the ending. The lack of mortality seem lost, when characters like Mercutio are missing from the piece. Even characters like Tybalt (Jason Statham) comes back, toward the end. It's insulting a bit. Yes, I'm might not be the target demographic, but regardless of that, I don't think a 'kids' movie should necessarily mean, it should be dumbed down. Kids deserve more constructive adept story-telling. I think children need to understand death. Having the happy ending here seem a bit of a cop-out. Some of the best films out there are kids' films because they aren't treating kids like they're stupid. They're simply dealing with themes, children deal with or are interested in but in a sophisticated manner. Films like 1996's Lion King that elements of Shakespeare's Hamlet didn't cop out, and had Mufasa come back in the end. I think this movie should do the same. Overall: While the result of this film is more family friendly than the source material. It's still not suitable for all ages, as the film rating suggest. In the end of the day, it's still a complex Shakespearean tragedy that was skin off, just to make a cute gnomes movie. I do think the movie is a double end sword. For one, it helps kids get into Shakespeare's work, while also insulting it. Despite mixed reviews, the film was a sleeper hit in the box office and a sequel, titled Gnomeo and Juliet: Sherlock Gnomes is in the works. The movie is still worth the watch. Like I said before, if you go into it with an open mind, you might find it entertaining.