Gnomeo & Juliet

When I sat down with my kids to watch Gnomeo & Juliet, I wasn't expecting much. There are so many computer animated movies every year, I can't keep track of them all and I don't think most of them are much good. But this one had a couple things going for it that made me enjoy it more than most. First off, as the title suggests, this is a Romeo and Juliet story. With garden gnomes. Yeah, silly, I know, but the plot really does follow the play reasonably closely, and it's a very enduring story. And the movie makers had a fun time throwing in other Shakespeare references here and there. That alone would have probably kept my attention most of the time.

The second thing that is worth mentioning is that Elton John was the executive producer, and his music is used heavily throughout the movie. It could have been overkill, but for a campy sort of movie I thought it worked. The Romeo and Juliet story is full of drama, fights, and romance, and Elton John's vast music catalog can cover it all.

In general I thought Gnomeo & Juliet was reasonably well done. The voice acting (primarily by James McAvoy and Emily Blunt, but also Maggie Smith and Michael Caine) was quite good. And there were some very notable voice cameos by the likes of Dolly Parton, Hulk Hogan, Ozzy Osbourne, and Sir Patrick Stewart. This was a fun little animated romp with a good balance of silly humor for the kids and cultural references for the adults.

***

Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia! is the film adaptation of the popular West End jukebox musical based on the music of the Swedish group ABBA. Like other productions of its genre, the play and the movie have a loose plot cobbled together in a way to include as many songs as possible from the source artist. This sort of thing works better on stage than on screen, so the movie Mamma Mia! was a little strange. But it was undeniably fun. The cast looked like they had a marvelous time, even if virtually nothing made sense. It was strange to see serious actors like Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, and Colin Firth sing and dance, but I think that was part of the attraction. It's funny to watch James Bond, Mr. Darcy, and a multiple-Oscar winner prance about like silly children. I give major credit to Meryl Streep, who has no dance groove but didn't hold back and made it look fun anyway. Worse was Pierce Brosnan, who really and truly can't sing to save his life. He belted it out anyway, though, in a raspy sort of way, so he gets points for effort at least. Fortunately, many of the other cast members sang pretty well, like Colin Firth and Amanda Seyfried.

I think the movie itself was pretty forgettable, but it was still incredibly fun because of the music. This is really a compliment to ABBA, for having created such a trove of memorable songs. I am by no means a hardcore ABBA fan, but I recognized every song in the movie and (surprisingly) knew the lyrics to more than half of them. This exhuberant, sing-along aspect helped distract from the thin plot and ridiculous scenes. Mamma Mia! is empty and saccharine-sweet, but still probably worth a rental.
∗∗