Marshall and the Movies

As far as kid’s movies go, “Gnomeo & Juliet” is about as stomachable of a non-Pixar flick as they come.  It takes perhaps the most famous love story, Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” and makes all the characters lawn ornaments.  It’s an interesting idea, not necessarily an inspired one, but a fun one nonetheless.

The movie doesn’t fully deliver in humor or enjoyment, but it does its best to liven up 80 minutes of your day by presenting an interesting variation on a classic tale.  If you’ve ever gone through some form of high school English, you will no doubt appreciate the subtle (or not so subtle) Shakespearean puns that pop up throughout.  Or maybe you’ll just enjoy figuring out the voice cast, which is quite the line-up.  The titular star-crossed lovers are voiced by Emily Blunt and James McAvoy, both of whom seem to be enjoying themselves rather than just phoning it in.

I could do a cheap cop-out here for search engine optimization and space filling and list the impressive cast, but I’ll just let you have the fun figuring it out for yourself.  (Or you can just go look on IMDb, I’ll make it easy by linking here.)  I will say, though, that I just loved Michael Caine and Maggie Smith as the parents.  Alfred and McGonagall never get old.

For me, the highlight was the slightly random – but still awesome – Elton John music.  I don’t know that it was necessary, but it just makes you smile.  And any kiddie caper that can give you that expression instead of an enraged frown is pretty much a winner by me.  C+ /