‘Gnomeo and Juliet’ doesn’t quite work

Director: Kelly Ashbury

Cast: (Voices) James McEvoy, Emily Blunt, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson, Michael Caine

Cert: G

A mildly entertaining animated twist on the Shakespeare romance with gnomes playing out the ill-starred love story … the trouble is they do with a minimum of charm or magic.

Romeo and Juliet has been filmed in its original form as well as variations of many times – ‘West Side Story’ springs instantly to mind – so gnomes should have their day, as here in a film from Rocket Films, founded by Elton John and partner David Furnish.

Gnomeo (McEvoy) is the hero living in the Stratford-upon-Avon garden owned by Miss Montague (Walters) while over the garden fence lives Juliet (Blunt) in the garden of grumpy Mr Capulet (Wilson) – see how the Shakespeare references and some clever and witty puns pile up. The Montague-Capulet feud rages on, threatening the lovestruck gnomes.

While the animation is quite good the feel of the film doesn’t quite work … the magic we expect from our animated stories is missing.

Star Rating: 2/5