Sherlock Gnomes

After awhile I was pretty burned out on the friendship stuff, the theme was revisited so much I started to wonder if it was being used as filler. The scene in the toy store with the cats and stuff was good and funny, that 'set piece' was the one redeeming feature for the movie, there wasn't enough of that kind of thing. I wonder if anyone did a cut of that scene and put it on utube, if so go to Utube and watch the one thing from the movie that was enjoyable and do something else with that time saved. I could be wrong, but I think whoever came up with the toy cat stuff was hired as an outside consultant in relation to the writers and producers of this soap operatic gnome movie

Sherlock Gnomes is a frequently clever animated film that has a few fun moments, yet suffers from a jumbled story and too many characters to fully engage you in the movie as a whole. Sherlock Gnomes is a sequel to Gnomeo and Juliet and brings together garden gnome versions of the famous detective and the Shakespearean couple from the first installment. Gnomeo and Juliet move to a new garden in London that disappoints their entire faction of gnomes. Gnomeo and Juliet are appointed the new leaders to turn the garden into a beautiful wonderland for their little village. Meanwhile, several gardens have been erased of all signs of gnomekind and soon, Gnomeo and Juliet's is too. The dynamic duo of the incredibly smart, but sometimes selfish detective and protector of London's garden gnomes Sherlock Gnomes and his trusty sidekick Watson are on the case and intend to catch the culprit and track down the missing gnomes, with the help of Gnomeo and Juliet. Unfortunately the collision of these literary duos doesn't work very well. Their stories have very different characters and tones. The film makes clever references to Sherlock Holmes and his works that will be enjoyable for fans of the character's inspiration, but the collaboration still feels forced. Gnomeo and Juliet go through a storyline that feels out of place and their conversations have a repetitive message. The characters feel less developed against the more engaging Sherlock Gnomes. My favorite character is Sherlock Gnomes (Johnny Depp). He embodies the qualities of the literary detective and makes his portrayal of Sherlock his own, giving him a more fun and comedic manner. He also nails Sherlock's complex relationship with Watson. I recommend this film for ages 5 to 9 due to some crude humor. Younger kids will enjoy the film's bright colors and caper elements and older kids and adults might enjoy some of the humor. However, this film lacks the vivid animation and nuance that offers the same wide appeal of other animated films. I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars because the story is a bit confusing, although it has some characters and good laughs. Reviewed by Benjamin P., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic, For more reviews by youth, visit kidsfirst dot org.

Grade: B- In a Nutshell: With original music by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, this gnome animation is a gentle introduction to Sir Arthur Conan Dole's classic story of Sherlock Holmes. It has action, comedy, good music, and uplifting themes, making it an entertaining movie for kids and watchable enough for parents. Tips for parents: Profanity like "Cheese & Crackers!" and "Fertilizer!" You see quite a bit of a dancing gnome in a thong. If you saw the first Gnomeo & Juliet, you've already been introduced to Mankini, a character kids will laugh at, yet one who is pretty inappropriate for young children, in my opinion. The first Gnomeo & Juliet was rated G, but this one is PG for using some rude and suggestive humor. Mankini's appearances definitely bumped up the rating. There is some potty humor that will make most parents squirm. Some subtitles All British accents and landmarks in London. Uplifting theme: "We all have our good and bad sides." - Watson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) "A man doesn't make you strong, but the right partner can make you stronger." - Juliet (Emily Blunt) "We took our best friends for granted. We stopped listening. We stopped giving them the respect they deserved. They were the last thing we were thinking about and they should have been the first." - Juliet Family and friendships Things I liked: Star-studded, award-winning voice talents include James McAvoy, Johhny Depp, Michael Caine, Emily Blunt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maggie Smith, and Mary J. Blige. The animation is very well done with impressively expressive characters. Lots of physical gags and entertaining visuals. Fun soundtrack of popular hits and new songs. It uses several different types of animation, which I thought was cleverly done. A couple of twists. I love twists. The sound effects were really good, allowing you to hear the clay pots and hear the weight of the gnomes. Stay to the end of the rolling credits to see a few more little things. Kids will like the use of modern technology in the story telling. Things I didn't like: Sherlock Gnomes is pretty annoying and not very likable. If only they had gotten Benedict Cumberbatch to play the voice! He does a fantastic job in the TV adaptation. That would have been awesome and hilarious. Don't get me wrong, because Johnny Depp was fine, but Cumberbatch as Sherlock...come on! There are a lot of jokes that kids simply won't get because they're references to older generations, like the River Dance gag. I started to get bored. It felt like a video I would put on for my kids at home to keep them occupied while I got some work done. Funny lines: "To be fair, it was needlessly complicated, but that's what super villains do." - Moriarty

Ah, direct sequel to Gnomeo & Juliet. And you know? I kind of waited for it. Back in 2011 I thought that Gnomeo & Juliet was pretty cute. I always loved stories about the worlds of toys and garden gnomes added nice little touch to the concept. The biggest problem with Gnomeo & Juliet was the fact that it was somewhat... boring. It was a cute little family movie with nice animation and some pretty heartwarming moments, but... it was also somewhat generic. So, while 10+ kids had a chance to fully enjoy it, parents, on the other hand, were can't help but feel sleepy from time to time. Just because, well, they've seen most of the stuff already for quite some times. Yes, garden with cute little gnomes was a nice touch, but it wasn't enough to turn the whole thing into an exciting experience. So, what I expected from sequel is to fix that problem. Because with better script Gnomeo & Juliet had a chance to become really good. So, did sequel achieve that? Unfortunately, no. Quite the opposite, actually. Sherlock Gnomes is pretty much exactly the same thing. Which means that we've got a lot of adorable characters, we've got stars (Ozzy Osbourne returns as Fawn, while Johnny Depp voices the title character), we've got surprisingly good animation with really nice 3D, we've got soundtrack with a lot of famous songs by Sir Elton John, we've got a story with meaning for both kids and adults, we've got some heartwarming moments... BUT we didn't get anything unique. Like with Gnomeo & Juliet, you won't miss anything special if you'll skip Sherlock Gnomes. Just because a lot of other animated movies can provide pretty much the same thing with almost the same stories and meanings. So, again, garden gnomes repeated their biggest mistake. They didn't provide the real reason to pay for a ticket. Of course, there are moments in your life when you want a family movie and don't want to re-watch the Toy Story for like a million time. And that's where this movie shines. It's something that was made exactly for such moments. To fill the gap between you re-watching Toy Story and you re-watching Despicable Me during your family animation marathon on holidays. Some scenes are actually feel like they were made with those movies in mind. It's like more of the same and that's it. So, did I enjoy Sherlock Gnomes? Yep. Does it worth going to a movie and pay for tickets? Nope. Like previous movie, this one is something you occasionally watch on Netflix. And there's no other way to it, even if it means for you to miss pretty nice 3D.