[yasr_overall_rating]
Garden gnomes, Gnomeo & Juliet, recruit renowned detective Sherlock Gnomes to investigate the mysterious disappearance of other garden ornaments.
The original tale of love-struck garden gnomes came out way back in 2011. Now a sequel has arrived to bore your children in the privacy of your own home. Maybe it bored me a little more than I expected. Seven years ago, “Gnomeo & Juliet” was at least mildly interesting background noise. “Sherlock Gnomes” lacks humor although it has a well thought out plot. Bravo for that.
The gnomes move to a new place in London, England, and the garden is in shambles, not to mention tiny compared to their prior property. Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) squabble as all star-crossed lovers do in their relationship. Before they can finish their fight, garden gnomes across the city disappear. Sherlock Gnomes arrives with Watson to solve the case when Gnomeo and Juliet’s family disappears. Together, the porcelain characters hunt for the villain who gnome-napped London’s charming garden statues.
One of the four meets an untimely demise but the group presses on as clues from the mastermind lead the detective through a circuitous maze throughout the city. Genius Sherlock solves each card left by the villain as his group trapezes through a Chinese restaurant, to the ocean and more in search of their family and friends. Meanwhile, a plot to teach Sherlock a lesson is afoot. The napped gnomes are content guarded by some rock-brained gargoyles as the countdown to find them ticks when another teammate disappears. Sherlock and his group race to save the gnomes and figure out who is important to them before London loses their best garden decoration.
The plot was great but needed more laughs. Why was there a gnome in a g-string in a kids movie? Funny? Yes. Inappropriate? Very. The super-villain was basically the Pillsbury Dough Boy turned Chucky, although, he had one great line: “I don’t need you, Sherlock. Lots of people want me as an arch enemy.” The movie could have been more inventive. A few moments garnered the writer’s full imagination but not enough to be a classic. Nothing about this movie stands out. Nothing makes it a film to watch more than once. Neither the worse nor the best kids movie. It rides the middle ground. Let’s hope they let the gnomes stay in the garden and not bring them back for a third installment.
Available on Digital HD June 5th and on Blu-ray & DVD June 12th
