This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is one of the more recent Shakespeare adaptations and it's more or less the story with gnomes. In fact, that's all it is, really. I actually thought the animation was pretty nice. The main problem is that it's too short and it tries to put in too much with all this big conflict at the end that wasn't in the play. It just seems silly for a something with garden gnomes to have battle scenes. Still, I actually would recommend this to little kids because the film is completely harmless. There's absolutely nothing offensive in it.It's at least much better than "Romeo And Juliet: Sealed With A Kiss" because this film was at least animated well and it didn't have the annoying characters. Of course, it's hard to make a kid's version of a Shakespeare play. I really do like the bit where the William Shakespeare statue comes to life and comments on the story. It does make you wonder how their world works. It seems to work on "Toy Story" where they're not allowed to show themselves to humans. The Elton John music is good too. **1/2

OK, lets get the negative stuff out of the way. As its detractors are so eager to point out, this isn't as good as Toy Story, or the vast majority of Pixar's outlet. It's not as good as Lion King, It's not as good as Shrek. And it does weirdly over-rely on the familiar songs of Elton John (who executive produced) as score.Fine. But that doesn't mean it can't be a cute, enjoyable, witty spin on Romeo and Juliet, with two backyards full of garden gnomes (and other garden features like frog fountains) at war with each other, and star-crossed lovers from each side falling in love in spite of it all.And who can dislike the voice cast? James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith - some of Britain's very best bring character and comedy to their parts -- as do, in their own weird way Ozzy Osborne and Hulk Hogan in cameo roles (For that matter who could resist any film that brought such a surreal bunch of voices together?).Yes, this isn't an all-time classic. But I think we've gotten so spoiled by being in a golden age of cartoon features that it's too easy to dismiss a good solid, fun effort like this.

After reading the wonderful Shakespearean masterpiece that is Romeo and Juliet, I decided to watch this take on his beloved classic. Here are some of my thoughts:Highs: The animation was nice. Which is more than I can say for some other movies I've watched.Lows: Almost everything else. Romeo and Juliet is a good story because it is a twist on the "love at first sight" cliché. Gnomeo and Juliet doesn't have that twist. It is only the cliché. Which happens to be the most clichéd clichés of all time. And that's not the only cliché you'll see. This entire film is packed full of clichés that are all unbearably cringeworthy. In fact, this film has so many clichés that it makes me feel like I'm saying cliché too much. And what's with the gnomes? Who thought it was a good idea to remake Romeo and Juliet, except without death and with gnomes? It's your typical Disneyesque clichéd "meets true love" film that is unexciting in any way. Spoiler alert: Yup, nobody dies at the end. What a ripoff. After sustaining through this entire crapfest I wanted at least the satisfaction of the main characters committing suicide and whatnot, but I didn't even get that. I do appreciate that they put in innuendos like Shakespeare did with his plays, but the innuendos in Gnomeo and Juliet were juvenile and just stupid. I probably could live with them if they were witty but they weren't. The music is terrible too. People are going to trash me for this but I just don't like Elton John.Verdict: Stay away. Unless you like clichéd tripe, which is surprisingly what a lot of people do like.

This delightful film is the perfect adaptation of Romeo and Juliet for children. Actually, it's probably the only appropriate one for children; nevertheless it does the job well. Set in the back gardens akin to those in Coronation Street with all the right amount of craftiness of Toy Story. We see the forbidden love story between two garden gnomes from rival gardens. It seems silly but believe me when I say that this is an overlooked gem. Gnomeo and Juliet has a lot more to give than meets the eye. Set in the present day, we follow Gnomeo, a 'blue', and Juliet, a 'red'; which is denoted by the colour of their pointed gnome hats. Bear with me. They reside in the gardens of the two semi-detached houses and for some reason, the residents of these houses hate each other.As I mentioned earlier, it borrows all the successful plot devices from Toy Story that made that such a pioneering piece of storytelling. For example, the gnomes cannot be seen moving by humans for fear of getting caught. Somehow it works and does not at all feel like it's ripping off what made Toy Story so great; it feels fresh. The distinct style of animation is gorgeous. It is a pleasant film to sit back and observe. The detailing in the design of the characters must be noted. Its full beauty can is shown to its full potential in scenes such as the one where we see Gnomeo and Juliet getting ready for their first date together.The films own brand of self-reflexive comedy is telling for the age of its creation. As shown through many an awkward situation and perfectly timed cutaway gags. The 'chorus' gnome reads aloud to the audience about the forthcoming events in the film; all the while poking fun about the amount of times the story has been told before on film. There are a number of innuendoes that younger viewers might miss out on, but might get a laugh or two out of a more mature, albeit immature, audience. Such is seen when Nanette presses Juliet about the size of Gnomeo hat. I strongly believe that the casting choices of the film would translate well to a live-action version of the film. James McAvoy lends his voice to a passionate and poetic version of Romeo, while Emily Blunt sees that Juliet is given sweetness with a brazenness that can only be a product of her British charm. Both actors have enough experience in dramatic acting to pull off the brooding yet optimistic couple. Jason Statham plays hot-headed Tybalt which perfectly mimics Statham's on-screen reputation in his high-octane action films. We see a stellar cast of standout comedic performances from characters such as Nanette the frog and Fawn the deer, voiced by Ashley Jensen and Ozzy Osbourne respectively. Characters such as Featherstone are fully realised; there is no loose end in any minor characters story. In short, the casting of characters and storytelling just works superbly.The film strives to be a separate work from the text of the source material and I believe it succeeded in doing so. All the corresponding elements are there such as the characters, the plot and the story; but they still manage to make it its own show. On first viewing, I found the storytelling more evocative than that of its source material. After Tybalts death, I felt genuine feelings of sadness instead of the little to no sympathy I am used to giving the situation in every other film adaptation of the play. The characters deliver compressed versions of the source materials text throughout the film, but it never takes away from the films intelligence. The film is masterful in its delivery of recognisable quotes from the original play through the context of the dialogue.What I found particularly enjoyable were the Easter Eggs found throughout to keep adult viewers on their toes. For example, in Featherstones flashback there are 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern' moving trucks as a nod to the Hamlet characters of the same name and in Gnomeos break through the city, there is a bus which has Stratford Upon Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace, as its destination. However, this is a lengthy list for another day. I commend the finer details in some of the choices that were made in the production of this film. As a pop culture fanatic, perhaps one of my favourite moments in the film was Patrick Stewarts cameo as the statue of William Shakespeare as a nod to his work with Royal Shakespeare Company. A similar moment of cultural recognition is made when Nanette is being serenaded by Paris, voiced by Stephen Merchant. We see a shot of Nanette covered in rose petals that visually resembles the infamous shot from American Beauty. Moments like these go over the heads of the target audience, but that's just the beauty of this film. Yes, it is a film aimed at children but it is more than that. It's not just family friendly but it can actually be enjoyed by all.Initially, I was apprehensive about watching this film. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised with a warm and well-natured adaptation of one of my favourite stories of all time. Admittedly, it had a lot to live up to what with being an adaptation of not only one of the most famous plays from the world's greatest writer. It had its work cut out for itself, to say the least. Perhaps it was because it was a children's film that naturally gave it the allure of being low-brow and below any critical success. However, my assumptions were proved wrong upon first watch and I undoubtedly will watch it again.