Gnomeo and Juliet (Kelly Asbury, 2011)

I think I’ve possibly found another favourite animated film… Gnomeo and Juliet is such a cute film, and I think it’s clever the way they’ve adapted the play into a film which even children can easily understand. It’s a good ‘modern’ plot, cleverly combined with Romeo and Juliet (obviously) with added bits of humour.

Having studied Romeo and Juliet for GCSE, I kept noticing little phrases which came up, including the obvious ‘parting is such sweet sorrow’, and also references to other Shakespeare plays, such as when Juliet shouts at a dog to get ‘out, out!’, to which the owner says ‘damn Spot’…

Another clever reference, which I only realised on my second time of watching it, is the address of the owners of the gardens the red gnomes and the blue gnomes live in… The film follows the feud between the houses of Capulet and Montague, ‘in fair Verona, where we lay our scene’… 2B or not 2B, that is the address.

These subtle hints at Shakespeare plays and, of course, to Romeo and Juliet, are clever and I had fun trying to spot them all.

“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… like a leprechaun… or purple like… like some weird guy – I mean what’s in a gnome? Because you are blue, my father sees red, and because I am red, I am feeling blue. Oh, at any rate that shouldn’t be the thing to keep us apart, should it?”  – Juliet

The names of each character, too, are all cleverly adapted to bring a ‘modern’, gnome-y twist to the film, such as Benny the little gnome and Nanette the frog (references to Benvolio, Romeo’s best friend, and Juliet’s nanny). All the characters are lovable, particularly the slightly crazy plastic flamingo and a cute Mushroom named Shroom, and Fawn, who is voiced by Ozzy Osbourne.

Unlike Romeo and Juliet, however, there is a happy ending… as with most children’s animated films, it’s cheerful and feel-good, and I actually really, really like this film!