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!

The Great Gatsby (Baz Luhrmann, 2013)

The next book we are studying in English is ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald, so, naturally, I decided to watch the film as well.
Since The Great Gatsby is extremely dull, the film was better than the book… but still not by much. It is all about affairs, extravagant parties and excess money, which is not a world that interests me.

It was directed by Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, which takes me back to last year when I watched Romeo and Juliet as part of my English work. This was also directed by Luhrmann and starred DiCaprio, who are clearly a good team; despite the boring storyline, Luhrmann made the most of it and made a convincing film, and DiCaprio is one of my favourite actors, even though I rarely like his character.

The Great Gatsby is narrated by Nick Carraway, about a man named Gatsby, his mysterious next door neighbour who regularly throws lavish parties, yet remains unknown to Nick. Although he hears rumours, Nick has no idea who Gatsby is, how he gets so much money, or why he throws such extravagant parties for people who do not know him. Throughout the film, Gatsby remains secretive, although shady characters who seem to play a big role in Gatsby’s life suggest some kind of illegal involvement. Jordan, Nick’s new girlfriend, reveals to him that Gatsby throws such big parties with the hope of attracting Daisy, who, coincidentally, is Nick’s cousin, after he fell in love with her but had to leave her. Nick therefore reintroduces them, and their love is instantly rekindled, leading them into a passionate (but rather obvious) affair.

The party scenes, despite annoying me because of the fact they were so excessive, were particularly well done. They looked amazing, and must have cost a lot to film…