"I am not illiterate! My parents were married!"
It doesn't take long for you to realise that you are watching one of the barmiest ideas ever - Shakespeare with gnomes and an Elton John soundtrack! - but therein lies the almost irresistible charm of this movie. Gnomeo and Juliet barrels along at a cracking pace with a barrage of awful puns, inspired visual lunacy and sufficient content to paper over a slight unevenness of tone (occasionally too earnest) but which hits the mark more often than not. The repositioning of the play for a very young audience is cleverly done, with the Montagues and Capulets now the names of warring neighbours living in Verona Drive, and the garden gnome families themed 'Reds' and 'Blues' for ease of identification. James McAvoy and Emily Blunt do fine voice work as the leads (if a bit soft at times), and a bizarre mix of supporting actors are entertaining (notably the very funny Ashley Jensen and Stephen Merchant). For older viewers, there is also fun to be had spotting the Elton John hits referenced in the orchestral score (his two new songs are pleasantly old-school but not classics) and some nicely-judged nods to other films and TV - the riff on Skippy is not original but beautifully executed. The animation is terrific and the use of 3D is excellent. By the time the film reaches its Shrek-style musical curtain call, this gentle, whimsical (and very British) tale clambers out of a huge final-act plothole and leaves you smiling, with the target audience - i.e. the little ones in the cinema - clearly loving it.
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