Gnomeo & Juliet


Gnomeo & Juliet is a 2011 British-American 3D computer-animated fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Kelly Asbury. It is loosely based on the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and an original screenplay by Rob Sprackling and John Smith. The film stars the voices of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Maggie Smith, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant, Matt Lucas, Jim Cummings, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson, Patrick Stewart, and Ozzy Osbourne. The animation was provided by Starz Animation.
The film premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on January 23, 2011. It was theatrically released in the United Kingdom and United States on February 11, 2011. The film grossed $193.9 million on a $36 million budget. The film received nominations for the Annie Award for Directing in a Feature Production, Storyboarding in a Feature Production, Voice Acting in a Feature Production, and Writing in a Feature Production. The song "Hello Hello" by Elton John and Lady Gaga was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, the Satellite Award for Best Original Song, and the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song.
A sequel and spin-off, titled Sherlock Gnomes, was released on March 23, 2018, with Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer distributing and producing the film, respectively.

Plot

In Stratford-upon-Avon, elderly neighbors Miss Montague and Mr. Capulet despise each other. When they leave their respective gardens, their garden gnomes and other lawn ornaments come alive. The Montague garden is filled with Blue-hatted gnomes led by Lady Bluebury, and the Capulet garden with Red-hatted gnomes led by Lord Redbrick, who share their owners’ feud. In a back alley lawnmower race, Lady Bluebury's son Gnomeo competes against his Red rival Tybalt, who cheats to win by destroying Gnomeo's lawn mower. That night, Gnomeo and his best friend Benny infiltrate the red garden in disguise to take revenge by spray-painting Tybalt's mower, but Benny accidentally triggers a security light. During their escape, Gnomeo ends up in a nearby garden and bumps into a disguised Juliet, daughter of Lord Redbrick, attempting to retrieve a unique Cupid's Arrow orchid. Romantically fighting over the flower, they discover each other's color before fleeing. Juliet tells her frog-sprinkler friend Nanette about her newfound love, which Nanette declares romantically tragic but agrees to keep their secret.
Gnomeo and Juliet continue to meet secretly in the nearby garden, where they encounter a pink plastic flamingo named Featherstone who encourages their love. Lord Redbrick pairs Juliet with a Red Gnome named Paris ; uninterested, Juliet distracts him with Nanette, who has feelings for him. Lady Bluebury is distraught after the Reds infiltrate the garden and destroy the plant nurtured by Gnomeo's late father. The Blues urge Gnomeo to take revenge on the Reds, and is about to spray their prized tulips with insecticide when Juliet sees him, and he backs out of the attack. At their next meeting, Gnomeo and Juliet argue until Featherstone stops them, telling them he lost his wife when the couple living in the garden's house broke up and they each took a flamingo. Benny sees them and runs into the alleyway, unbeknownst that Tybalt is waiting with his lawnmower; he attempts to run Benny down, and chops off his hat. Gnomeo intervenes, and he and Tybalt fight until the lawnmower runs into the wall, shattering Tybalt. The Reds attack Gnomeo, believing him responsible for Tybalt's death, and Gnomeo ends up in the road. A blue teapot falls from a truck passing Gnomeo, leading everyone to believe Gnomeo was run over. Juliet expresses her love for Gnomeo and attempts to walk out onto the roadway, but Lord Redbrick, who lost her mother, stops her and has Juliet's feet glued to her tower. Gnomeo's mushroom friend, Shroom, discovers that Gnomeo is still alive, carried off by a dog to a nearby park. He and Featherstone reach the park where Gnomeo climbs onto a statue of William Shakespeare and tells him his story. Shakespeare declares Gnomeo's tale similar to his own story of Romeo and Juliet, and that it is likely Gnomeo's will have a tragic ending as well.
Benny uses Miss Montague's computer to order a powerful Terrafirminator lawnmower, seeking revenge on the Reds. The Terrafirminator arrives and initially works well, but goes out of control, destroying both gardens, and gets itself stuck while the gnomes wage a full-scale war. Gnomeo returns to Juliet with Featherstone's help, but the Terrafirminator frees itself. Gnomeo is unable to un-glue Juliet, stuck in the mower's path, and they share a passionate kiss as the lawnmower crashes into the tower and self-destructs. Realizing the consequences of their vendetta, Lord Redbrick and Lady Bluebury end the feud. Gnomeo and Juliet emerge from the ruins as the two clans celebrate. Miss Montague and Mr. Capulet come home to find their backyards a mess and scream at the damage. The Red and Blue gnomes create a new garden and celebrate their newfound peace. Paris and Nanette are in love, Lord Redbrick and Lady Blueberry become best friends, Tybalt is glued back together, Featherstone is reunited with his wife after Benny finds and orders her online, and Gnomeo and Juliet are married on a purple lawnmower, symbolizing the new union of both gnome clans.

Cast

Silent characters include:
Prince Escalus doesn't have a counterpart.

Production

The film was the original idea of Sprackling and Smith, who sold the spec script to Disney through Rocket Pictures. Disney studio chairman Dick Cook greenlit the film, under the Disney-owned Miramax Films. Miramax was later sold by Disney in 2010, but the latter studio retained the rights to the film. Starz Animation produced and animated the film. After first sitting on the film as it was an animated film not by a Disney animation unit, Disney Studios then opted to release the film through its Touchstone Pictures banner. Disney Australian director Adam Elliot was approached and asked to direct the film, but he rejected the offer due the film's incompatibility with his style, as well as his lack of experience with CGI.
Asbury got on board in 2006, and was attracted the movie in order to work with Elton John. Asbury and Hamilton Shaw then rewrote the film "sort of from scratch," A particular challenge, according to Asbury was how to differentiate the ending between the original play and the movie in order to "keep daggers and poison and suicide out". Asbury had free range of the casting and conducted the process only through listening to voices, not knowing which actor was auditioning until he felt they were right for the character. Prior to the casting of James McAvoy and Emily Blunt, the roles of Gnomeo and Juliet were originally to be voiced by Ewan McGregor and Kate Winslet, respectively.

Soundtrack

Gnomeo & Juliet: Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack album and was released by Buena Vista Records on February 8, 2011. It features music by Elton John, Nelly Furtado, Kiki Dee, and selections from the score composed by Chris P. Bacon and James Newton Howard.
The duet of John and Lady Gaga for "Hello, Hello" was featured in the film, released on February 11, 2011, but the soundtrack version only features John. Additionally, on May 4, 2011 the duet was leaked online and available for download on most sharing websites.

Musicians

Elton John & band:
Gnomeo & Juliets worldwide premiere was at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on January 23, 2011. The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures under the Touchstone Pictures banner on February 11, 2011. The film was Touchstone's first animated film since 1993's The Nightmare Before Christmas and also Touchstone's first and only film to receive a G rating from the MPAA. The film was distributed in the United Kingdom and Canada by Entertainment One Films. Elton John and director Asbury presented 10 minutes of the film at the Cannes Film Festival.

Home media

Gnomeo & Juliet was released by Touchstone Home Entertainment on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and DVD on May 24, 2011. The film was produced as three different packages: a 1-disc DVD, a 2-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, and a 3-disc Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and DVD combo pack. The 3-disc package also includes access to a digital download of the film. Both the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the release include the music video for Elton John and Nelly Furtado's version of John's "Crocodile Rock", as well as the extras "Elton Builds a Garden" and "Frog Talk" with Ashley Jensen. In addition, the Blu-ray version also has several deleted and alternate scenes, as well as a feature with Ozzy Osbourne called "The Fawn of Darkness".

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 56% based on reviews from 125 critics, with an average rating of 5.61/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "While it has moments of inspiration, Gnomeo & Juliet is often too self-referential for its own good." On Metacritic, it has a score of 53 out of 100, based on 28 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A+ to F.
Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal gave it a positive review, "This lively little film, a comic take on Shakespeare's tragedy, is really entertaining." Ty Burr of the Boston Globe says "It has its own bizarre charms and a breezy confidence that renders it the very definition of a simple pleasure." Justin Chang of Variety writes "A welcome dose of honest silliness at a time when most family-oriented toons settle for smart-alecky."
In a mixed review Tasha Robinson from The A.V. Club criticizes the film "Far too much of the film is devoted to eye-rolling pop-culture gags and long montages set to recycled Elton John songs."

Box office

Gnomeo and Juliet earned about $100 million in North America and $94 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $193.9 million. Gnomeo & Juliet was ultimately a hit for Disney, outperforming the much higher-budgeted Mars Needs Moms the studio released a month following Gnomeo & Juliet. On the first weekend of its US release, the film had a worldwide opening of $30,700,000, finishing in second place behind Just Go with It. On its second weekend —Presidents' Day weekend— it topped the worldwide box office with $29,800,000, ahead of Unknown which ranked second.
It opened in 2,994 theaters in North America on Friday, February 11, 2011, grossing $6,200,000 on its first day and ranking third behind and Just Go with It. It then finished the weekend with $25,400,000 in 3rd place. However, it scored the largest opening weekend ever for an animated feature released during the winter period. It also made the largest debut on record for a minor animated movie, according to Box Office Mojo. With a $99,970,000 total it became the highest-grossing animated feature among those released in winter, until it was surpassed by The Lego Movie in 2014.
In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Malta, it topped the weekend box office by earning £2,900,000 on its opening. In total it has grossed $25,300,000, making the UK the only market, except North America, where it grossed more than $10,000,000.

Accolades

Sequel

In March 2012, it was reported that a sequel titled Sherlock Gnomes was in development at Rocket Pictures. Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil, two of the nine writers on the first film, were writing the script for the sequel. Steve Hamilton Shaw and David Furnish produced the film, and Elton John, was an executive producer, and again composed songs for the film. The film featured Sherlock Gnomes, "the greatest ornamental detective" hired by the characters from the first film, to solve the mystery of disappearing gnomes. John Stevenson, director of Kung Fu Panda, directed the sequel, and Johnny Depp voiced Sherlock Gnomes. The film was released March 23, 2018.