Gnomeo & Juliet

In 2011, Disney distributed a film produced by Touchstone, Miramax, Rocket Pictures and Arc Productions. Based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Gnomeo & Juliet stared James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Jason Statham, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Patrick Stewart, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant, Matt Lucas, and Ozzy Osbourne. With music by Elton John, the film grossed $194 million.

Elderly neighbors Mrs. Montague (Julie Walters) and Mr. Capulet (Richard Wilson) despise each other. And each one’s garden gnomes have an ongoing feud as well. Montague has blue-hatted gnomes and Capulet has red-hatted gnomes. But one day, Gnomeo (McAvoy) and Juliet (Blunt) run into each other and its love at first sight.

Why yes, director Kelly Asbury did work on Toy Story.

An appropriate word for this film could be “weird.” It seems to be self-aware in at the very beginning, it notes how the story has been told before quite a bit, but seeks to do so in a different way. And while that venture is successful, it has quite a few diversions from the original story. Most notably, Gnomeo and Juliet both make it to the end of the film, as does Tybalt. And it ends with a cast dance party.

There are also a lot of deviations with characterizations. Juliet’s disapproving nanny is now a wisecracking frog and the overly cautious and wise Friar Laurence is replaced by an overly excited lawn flamingo. Swordfights are taken over by lawn mower races, with cameos by Dolly Parton and Hulk Hogan (in the middle of England no less)

 A few of these deviations are cleverly referenced by a statue of Shakespeare, voiced by Stewart, who thinks his original idea was better. And there are a whole lot of other references laden throughout the film and for every good one, there’s one or two that just don’t work very well. As stated above, Shakespeare’s insistence that he “told you so” to Gnomeo is great. One of the gnomes quoting Bambi is funny, but feels out of place. Montague’s and Capulet’s houses are 2B and not 2B, clever but when Juliet comes across a dog and yells “out” while the owner yells “damn Spot” immediately after just feels forced. Elton John’s “Hello, Hello” playing when Gnomeo and Juliet first meet is a good song. But two gnomes referencing Brokeback Mountain and the frog referencing American Beauty don’t belong anywhere near a children’s movie.  

Why yes, director Kelly Asbury did work on Shrek.

The Shakespeare statue was correct, his version is much better and this is clearly changed for the kids. Sometimes that’s for the better. Other times, it’s not. And this film goes both ways.

#93

Edge of Tomorrow

Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers as Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt star in Edge of Tomorrow. Based off the Japanese Light Novel, All You Need is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, the film centers on a war between Earth and alien invaders. Cruise is Major William Cage, a public relations officer roped into combat with the first wave of an invasion to drive them back. He soon finds himself reliving the same day over and over again, joining war hero Rita Vrataski (Blunt), a war hero who knows what is happening to him.

Despite what would normally be a bizarre pairing, Edge of Tomorrow is self-aware enough to prevent itself from being taken too seriously. Combine that tone with good writing, story and characters, the film is quite solid. At least for the most part.

The film seems to recognize the absurdity of people in mech suits fighting tentacled aliens while making use of a time loop. It’s just serious enough to suck the viewer in and make them care about the characters. Beyond that, it has fun with the story. There are a few cheesy moments, but they don’t detract from the overall quality, nor do they distract from the story.

The writing is also quite clever in a lot of areas. There are many times where the film shows Cage going through an event multiple times, such as battle or training. But there’s also a few times where it’s not quite as obvious. There’s one scene in particular where Cage and Vrataski are trying to get information. It’s the first time we’ve seen an attempt, but their fluid motions show they have been there many times before. This scene also has some of the best dialogue, with the two casually mentioning specific things they couldn’t possibly know beforehand to a general.

As stated above, the story is a bizarre pairing, using an oft borrowed trope. But it’s told well and not executed in a cliché manner. The reason Cage is experiencing the time loops is also quite creative, fitting well with the one way they can be stopped. And with any good Chekhov’s Gun, that one way comes to fruition, requiring him to survive on everything he’s learned throughout the film. This also gives Cage quite the character arc.

Cage starts off quite the coward. He’s a public relations officer who’s never seen combat, going so far as to try illegal methods to get out of covering the front lines. By the end of the film, not only has he undergone what could only be months of training, but he’s grown to be courageous and self-reliant. Vrataski also has a good character. She’s tough, battle-hardened and doesn’t suffer fools, while being foolishly stubborn herself many times. She also understands what Cage is going through and tries to help him make sense of it.

The film also has some good music, written by Christophe Beck, who also wrote the music for Frozen and three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

However, no film is perfect. And Edge of Tomorrow has a glaring flaw with its ending. The last minute or so is in stark contrast with the rest of the film. It could be possible the director didn’t care for the ending to the original light novel and ordered someone to write a new ending. Unfortunately, the result seems hurriedly written, quickly shot and feels like it was designed simply to give it a happy ending. Make no mistake, there’s nothing wrong happy endings. The problem is when the ending doesn’t match up to the rest of the film in terms of quality. 

Despite it's ending, Edge of Tomorrow passes the Edge of Satisfaction and finds itself at #2.