Kenneth Turan’s film pick of the week: ‘Gnomeo & Juliet’

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

It doesn’t seem likely — in fact, it is downright unlikely — but ‘Gnomeo & Juliet’ turns out to be the pleasantest surprise of the season. It is so rare to have an enjoyable film arrive without a massive publicity onslaught, but ‘Gnomeo,’ silly name and all, has managed to do just that.

Admittedly, the eccentric idea of retelling Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo & Juliet’ with red and blue British garden gnomes as the feuding families takes a bit of getting used to. Helping a lot are a generous selection of the songs of Bernie Taupin and Elton John (whose production company, Rocket Pictures, originated the project). The soundtrack makes use of standards like ‘Crocodile Rock,’ ‘Your Song,’ ‘Tiny Dancer’ and ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ as well as new numbers written especially for this film.

This gently amusing, genuinely sweet animated film won’t blow you out of the water or change your life, but it will make you smile from start to finish, and that doesn’t happen every day.

— Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times film critic