Gnomeo and Juliet
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(First Lines) Red Good Gnome: The story you about to see has been told before. A lot. We're going to tell it again. But different. |
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A young man falls in love with a woman named Juliet, but why must he suffer the pressure of his peers, while struggling to be with his true love born of a rival family? Through the impossible, he faces obstacles without fail, with the help of his midget sidekick... and... plastic... flamingo... ornament? Oh. Right. This man's name is Gnomeo. And the characters are living ceramic garden gnomes in a back yard. Get it?
Gnomeo and Juliet takes the most famous love story of all time and places it in the back yards of neighboring English households. Disney released this film under Touchstone Pictures in 2011, on Valentine's Day weekend. Elton John executive produced this 3D CGI animated film and even contributed a few songs to the soundtrack. Starz Animation and Rocket Pictures created the animation.
A sequel to the film, Sherlock Gnomes, was released in 2018. It combines Sherlock Holmes with the gnome setting.
Tropes used in Gnomeo and Juliet include:
- Action Girl: Juliet the ninja garden gnome.
- All Animals Are Dogs: Not even an animal. A lawn ornament mushroom.
- Almost Kiss: Repeated several times.
- All-Star Cast: James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Jason Statham, Patrick Stewart, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Hulk Hogan, Dolly Parton, Jim Cummings, Ozzy Osbourne...
- Awesomeness Is Volatile: The ad for the Terrafirminator claimed that looking at it would cause people's heads to explode.
- Brick Joke: "Told you so."
- Chekhov's Gun: The lights and music display.
- Color Coded for Your Convenience: The two neighboring houses are painted in red and blue colors. The two sides of the war are red gnomes and blue gnomes, both with the respective colors on their outfits. The characters even refer to themselves as Reds and Blues. In case it wasn't clear enough.
- And some things that are shared, like the Cupid's flower and the lawnmower at the end, are purple—red and blue combined.
- Composite Character:
- Benny is named after Benvolio from the original play, but his personality and role in the story is a lot closer to that of Mercutio.
- According to Word of God, Gnomeo was meant as an amalgam of Romeo and Mercutio.
- Dance Party Ending
- Dark Reprise: Listen for a slow, orchestral version of the guitar riff from "Saturday Night's (Alright for Fighting)" in the scene just after Tybalt dies.
- Death Is Cheap: After all the fuss and drama made over Tybalt and Gnomeo's (supposed) deaths, in the Dance Party Ending Tybalt is glued back together and aside from the odd limb dropping off is PERFECTLY FINE!
- Deus Ex Machina: In the Dance Party Ending, Benny just happens to find Featherstone's lost love on the internet and orders her.
- Development Hell: The final film is basically a last-ditch effort after John Lasseter shut down production about five years before its release, when it was going to be animated by Walt Disney Feature Animation.
- Disney Death: Occurs not once, but twice during the movie:
- The first is when Gnomeo is apparently hit and smashed by a passing truck; the wreckage is actually from a blue ceramic dish that fell out of the vehicle.
- Second time occurs during the finale when Gnomeo is trying to save Juliet from the Terrafirminator: Dust clears, everyone gapes in shock, the rubble begins to shake ... and then someone else crawls out, subverting this. More shock, then it begins to shake as the display tower activates, to reveal Gnomeo and Juliet safe and sound, making a double subvert.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: A gnome's hat-height. Made even more blatant when an envious Tybalt (with a small hat) smashes Benny's large... hat.
- Drool Hello
- Everybody Lives: While at first seems that Tybalt died, he appears glued back together in the ending.
- Fun with Subtitles: The film takes a crack at martial arts movies.
- Feuding Families: The Reds and the Blues, obviously.
- Happy Ending
- Hartman Hips: "Dolly Gnome".
- Held Gaze: A very very obvious one when Gnomeo and Juliet first encounter each other after they put grab hold of the flower. It causes them to look into each other's eyes and they hold each other's gazes for a looong moment.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Gnomeo and Benny on the blue side. Tybalt and Fawn on the red side.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: "Kick some grass."
- Karma Houdini: Benny. Despite destroying both the Reds and the Blues' gardens and very nearly killing both of the main characters, he never seems to get any sort of punishment and ends up getting a happy ending along with everyone else.
- Knight Templar Parent: Lord Redbrick. His over-protectiveness almost kills Juliet when she can't run away from the lawn mower.
- Large Ham: Patrick Stewart is having so much fun as Shakespeare's statue. May very well be Self-Deprecation given his theatre background.
- Last Kiss: Invoked when Gnomeo stays with Juliet on her pedestal, as it appears they're going to be killed by The Terrafirminator. Subverted however, as they turn out to be fine.
- Lock and Load Montage: Gnomeo gets one (with duct tape, garden stakes, mud, and a spray nozzle) before his first raid into the Red yard.
- Never Say "Die": Notably Averted, especially with a scene devoted to comparing the plot to the source material. Even if Tybalt does get better later.
- Pair the Spares: Paris/Nanette. Hey, Darren Lamb and Maggie got together.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Benny's ridiculous daisy costume completely fools Tybalt's miniature minions when he hides out in an arrangement of daisies.
- Parental Bonus: There's a fair bit of innuendo and adult references made throughout the film.
- Playing Against Type: Ozzy Osbourne as possibly the cutest little faun you'll ever see.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Played straight with the Red and Blue gnome clans.
- Shout-Out:
- So many Shakespeare references everywhere it'd make your head spin. The feuding neighbor's houses are 2B and not 2B for starters... The movers are named Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. There is also a truck labeled Tempest Teapots and the "Taming of the Glue" brand seen later in the movie. And that's just scraping the surface!
- Even to other works. Brokeback Mountain, anyone?
- Also Lassie (is Timmy in a Well again?), and a mention for Little Richard in the same phrase, no less!
- Was that Alan Titchmarsh on Ms. Montague's screensaver?
- It may have been a fluke of the Russian translation, but one of Lady Bluebury's calls to arms seemed to have come from Lord Humungus himself!
- They even sneak in one to Bambi. "Tybalt can't be with us anymore."
- One of the headlines says "As You Like It"
- Heck, The Bard himself appears! (or at least, his statue does) voiced by Patrick Stewart!
- Featherstone: One word. Plastic.
- Featherstone again: "I may not be a smart bird, but I know what love is".
- When Juliet first tries to leave the garden "Out out!" then the dog's owner calls out "Damn Spot! Over here, boy!"
- Side Effects Include: The ad for the Terrafirminator ends with a list of side effects, including dry mouth, voices telling you to burn things, tightened hamstrings, and persistent feelings of awesomeness. In rare instances some people may explode when viewing the Terrafirminator.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Everyone but Tybalt. Also, Tybalt.
- Star-Crossed Lovers
- Talking Is a Free Action: While the Terrafirminator is flying through the air at them (in slow motion), our main characters have a brief chat, at normal speed.
- Testosterone Poisoning: The ad for the Terrafirminator plays it up like the ultimate man's mower.
- Unexplained Recovery: Tybalt during the Dance Party Ending.
- Visual Pun:
- What's spray-painted behind the bulldog's head when he spits Gnomeo out? 3x3. As in 9. As in K9.
- Also a reference to Macbeth.
- The house's respective addresses are "2B" and "2B" crossed out.
- Mrs. Capulet's laptop has a Banana on it... instead of an apple.
- What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: The Terrafirminator.
- With Catlike Tread:
- Benny's idea of a costume for an 'ultimate stealth' mission involves dressing as a daisy and strapping a blue spray can (that rattles as he moves) to his back.
- The spray can was part of the mission, he used it to vandalize the well in the Red garden.
- And the daisy costume comes in handy when they have to hide in a bed of daisies.
- Benny's idea of a costume for an 'ultimate stealth' mission involves dressing as a daisy and strapping a blue spray can (that rattles as he moves) to his back.