I cannot believe that Gnomeo & Juliet will soon be released on DVD and Blu-ray (May 24, 2011). It seems like only yesterday Sir Elton John gave me a hug and kissed me on my right cheek. I still vividly remember the red carpet premiere where Elton gave the audience a surprise performance. Swoon!!! My heart still skips a beat when I think about it. I only wish I had the opportunity to see him in concert.
Gnomeo and Juliet will be available on both DVD and Blu-ray. I had the privilege of reviewing the Blu-ray copy of the movie and all the fun bonus features.
Gnomeo and Juliet is the story about two feuding garden gnome families. In Mr. Montague’s garden you will find the red gnomes which are known for their beautiful tulips. In the Ms. Capulet’s blue garden you will find the blue gnomes and their most prizes possession, a lovely Wisteria tree.
Mr. Montague and Ms. Capulet live next door to each other on Verona street. If you are familiar with the story of Romeo and Juliet you might recall that the feuding families resided in Verona, Italy. Throughout the film there are several references to the original Shakespeare play.
The Reds and the Blues truly dislike each other. The feud has gone on for so many years that no one even remembers why they are fighting.
To take out their frustration and hatred towards one another the Reds and the Blues race each other in the alley on lawn mowers. Gnomeo (James McAvoy) rides for the Blue gnomes and Tybalt (Jason Stratham) races for the Red gnomes. Their races are really cut throat.
Lord Redbrick, the head of the Red gnomes, has a lovely young daughter name Juliet (Emily Blunt). Juliet is not into the lawn mower races. She would rather be out having an adventure. One day Juliet spies a beautiful orchid in an abandoned garden across the alley and she sets out to retrieve it. Unbeknown to her Gnomeo, from the Blue gnomes, is also making this way through the abandoned garden.
When Gnomeo and Juliet meet for the first time it’s love at first sight, however they do not know who the other is because they are both in disguises. When they find out they are from rival gnome families they each flee the garden. Their attraction is just too strong and Gnomeo risks everything to go into the red garden to see Juliet.
To hide their attraction for one another Gnome and Juliet agree to meet in the abandoned garden. How will they ever get their families to understand that they want to live in a garden filled with love, not hate.
What happens when their secret relationship is revealed? Will true love win out over tragedy? You will just have to pick up a copy of Gnomeo and Juliet on May 24, 2011.
I enjoyed this movie from start to finish. The characters are all very likeable. One of my favorite characters is Fawn (Ozzy Osborne). The idea of a sweet, innocent little fawn being voiced by the Prince of Darkness is amusing. Fawn has some really funny lines in the movie too, especially when he’s playing games with the tiny gnomes. Benny, the big hit gnome, was also adorable.
Throughout the film you will hear plenty of classic Elton John tunes. Elton John even collaborated with Lady Ga Ga for the song Hello, Hello, which is featured in the movie. Another new Elton John song, Love Builds a Garden, is also featured in the film. This is a beautiful song. The song and the imagery actually made my eyes well up with tears.
My husband and I had a fun time listening for the background music and identifying which song from the Elton John catalog it was. If you are a fan of Elton John you will have fun hearing some “oldies but goodies” (classic) Elton John songs. I’m pretty sure Elton John will have some new, younger fans, thanks to the success of this movie.
This movie has it all… love, action, adventure, tragedy, music, laughter, charming characters, great story… all rolled up into one. It’s a fantastic film that can be enjoyed by young and old over and over again.
There are plenty of bonus features to be found on the Blu-ray and DVD too. Both the Blu-ray and DVD feature Elton Builds a Garden with is a in depth, behind the scenes look at Elton’s involvement in the film. Frog Talk with Ashley Jensen features a brief interview with the voice of Nanette (Juliet’s friend) in the film, Ashley Jensen. There is also a music video of “Crocodile Rock” with Elton John and Nelly Furtado.
The Blu-ray features additional bonus features including many deleted scenes, alternate beginnings and endings and more, hosted by the film’s directory Kelly Asbury (Hi Kelly! Gnommie Bloggers Rule! LOL). Kelly – he’s my Gnomie. Ha Ha. We used to go back and forth on Twitter.
I love seeing a lot of the scenes that did not make the final cut. There was one scene that looked like it was straight out of C.S.I. I’m glad they deleted that one from the film. That would have really been out of place with the rest of the movie. That scene would have been to “dark”.
There was an alternate begining where you saw a lot of the shenanigans that went on during the night between the two families. That would have been fun to include in the final film some how.
All the deleted scenes are in raw form, meaning they don’t look as nice as the actual film footage.
I found it interesting that the character Featherstone, a plastic pink flamingo, could have been a really weird hippy (flower child) character instead of what he ended up being. I didn’t like that version of him at all. I am so glad that they went with the Featherstone personality that is featured in the film.
If you really want to get a lot of in depth details about the movie you can check out the following bonus information here on She Scribes.
Interview with the film’s director, Kelly Asbury: https://www.shescribes.com/2011/01/who-is-kelly-asbury.html.
Interview with Sir Elton John: https://www.shescribes.com/2011/02/an-interview-with-the-one-and-only-sir-elton-john.html.
Interview with James McAvoy and Emily Blunt: https://www.shescribes.com/2011/01/interview-with-james-mcavoy-gnomeo-and-emily-blunt-juliet.html.
Movie Soundtrack Review: https://www.shescribes.com/2011/02/gnomeo-juliet-the-soundtrack.html.
Red Carpet Event and After Party: https://www.shescribes.com/2011/01/hollywood-day-three-red-carpet-elton-john-and-celebrities-oh-my.html.
My original review of the movie (not DVD/Blu-ray): https://www.shescribes.com/2011/02/gnomeo-and-juliet-is-finally-here.html.
Gnomeo & Juliet Fun Facts: https://www.shescribes.com/2011/02/gnomeo-and-juliet-fun-movie-facts.html.
Gnome Theme Crafts: https://www.shescribes.com/2011/02/fun-gnome-activities-crafts.html.
Gnome Fun Facts: https://www.shescribes.com/2011/01/did-you-gnome%E2%80%A6.html.
Lastly, here is the movie’s trailer to get you even more excited about the film’s release.
Did YOU see Gnomeo & Juliet? What did you think about the movie? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Kimberly
*I received a free sample copy in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.
simplydab says
I’ve got this in my Netflix queue. I wanted to see it, but I always hate going to theatres for kids’ movies – I like to wait until they come out on DVD 🙂 I can’t wait to see the extras too.
Kittenish says
This sounds like a cute movie! I considered seeing it in the theater, but never got around to it. I’ll have to check out the DVD when I get a chance.