Gnomeo and Juliet begins with a comedic bit of self-awareness as a tiny garden gnome tells the audience we’re about to watch a story that “has been told before… A lot.” Obviously he’s referring to the William Shakespeare play the film is based on, but another way of looking at the statement may be to say this is just another Toy Story where instead of toys, garden gnomes come to life and act out Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.” This is where the problem begins and ends. Garden gnomes coming to life is a funny premise, it’s an idea that works well for a poster or trailer (or as snapshots in much-loved French films). But pulling much originality out of the idea proves to be a much more daunting task as this film and the years it spent in development imply.
Disney top dog, John Lasseter pulled the plug on Gnomeo and Juliet way back in 2006 when he first took over at Walt Disney Animation. The picture then moved to Miramax and ultimately landed at Touchstone Pictures, but not before a total of nine writers invested time in the script. Considering the legwork on the story was already done by Shakespeare it’s a wonder nine people couldn’t put their heads together to breathe a little more life into this woebegone backyard war.
Serving as executive producer and the film’s musical inspiration, Elton John’s fingerprints can be found in every frame. The original conceit was to actually build the film around his catalog of songs as several of his classics can be heard here from “Crocodile Rock” to “Rocket Man.” Unfortunately these classic lyrics don’t bring the magic his original tunes brought to The Lion King. As it turns out using the tune to Elton’s “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)” as the film’s main theme song isn’t the only ingredient necessary for a successful recipe.
This isn’t to say Gnomeo is an altogether disaster. The source material and talent involved prevents that from being possible. I love Elton’s music and there is no doubt his songs bring a little something to the feature. The voice cast also has its benefits ranging from James McAvoy and Emily Blunt as the voices for the two leads to Michael Caine as Juliet’s father Lord Redbrick, Maggie Smith as Gnomeo’s mother Lady Bluebury, Jason Statham as the violent Tybalt and Jim Cummings as Featherstone, the lawn flamingo with the inexplicable accent.
If I were to call out a favorite, however, that would be Ashley Jensen’s role as Juliet’s frog nurse Nannette. This here is a character that actually has a few suggestive lines such as a sex toy innuendo when eyeballing a mushroom shaped garden ornament. Yeah, it surprised me too, but it also gave me a good laugh.
Where Gnomeo shines above all else is in its animation and sound design. These characters look like actual garden gnomes, which may sound like a “no duh” statement, but it isn’t as easy as it may seem. Still frames of some of these characters would easily fool many people as each comes with its own deformities, uneven paint strokes, small chips and a muted color pallette to mimic weathering. Additionally, the attention to detail in the sound work is spot on as the clinking of the terracotta clay characters interacting with one another and their environment sounds as real as it can get.
Otherwise a clever “to be or not to be” opening and a short lawnmower commercial pretty much rounds out the breadth of noteworthy entertainment Gnomeo and Juliet offers. Yet, I was never entirely bored as much as I was mildly content. This was director Kelly Asbury’s first solo gig after co-directing Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Shrek 2 and I can only assume he did as much as he could with the material he was given. After all, this is a story we’ve heard before… A lot.
