Whoever thought of Romeo and Juliet as garden gnomes (inset) cannot seriously have expected American financiers to leap at the project.
Still, somehow Kelly Asbury's animation got made, and the result is an offbeat tribute to Shakespeare, in which Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) fall in love amid a turf war in the gardens of Verona Drive.
Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Jason Statham and Ozzy Osbourne voice the other gnomes and Elton John features prominently on the soundtrack. There are plenty of lawnmower chases, which are nicely animated, albeit in poorly rendered 3D and without the flair of Pixar or Disney. However, the basic flaw is that the story keeps on diverting into small corners of plot which have nothing to do with Shakespeare. It's as if everyone was a bit scared of giving a young audience too much to think about.
Gnomeo & Juliet 3D
Cert: U
