Sometimes the perks of being a blogger are pretty darn nice. This past weekend my brood of five all went and saw an advance screening of Gnomeo & Juliet in 3D. Much thanks to The Owens Group for the tickets. Anyway, I don’t have to write about it obviously but this particular movie, in addition to being VERY good, was actually very “green” in many ways. That surprised me but I guess it shouldn’t have.
The main characters are all lawn ornaments… ceramic mushrooms and frogs, pink flamingos, and of course Gnomes. All of these characters have great pride in taking care of their environment and making sure everything stays beautiful. There was a lot of eye candy in the way of prized flower beds, secret gardens, fountains, and the like. So while that wasn’t what the story is primarily about I loved that most of the story takes place outside as the Gnomes seek adventure in new places, wanting to make it beautiful everywhere they go.
The actual story is… well… a new take on Romeo and Juliet. The blue gnomes and red gnomes are at war because their respective homeowners are. Juliet takes off one night to nab a beautiful flower she saw in abandoned greenhouse down the road and she runs into Gnomeo. Both are in disguise since they are involved in mischief to some extent and they fall in love before they find out that the other is supposed to be their mortal enemy. Thankfully the whole suicide stuff was left out of this particular movie!
Anyway, it was really quite good. My 3 kids loved it (5, 7, 10) and my husband and I did as well. LOVED the references that went over the kids heads… like a line from Brokeback Mountain, Elton John in Gnome form, a Borat style swimsuit, and a play on an American Beauty scene. Oh and I was very happy to hear the voices of James McAvoy and Jason Statham.. my faves! I probably would not have chosen to see this film if not for the free tickets. I guess I need to stop being such a cartoon snob.. or so my husband would say. ;)
Will you being see this film?
