Sherlock Gnomes review

My opinion right after watching the movie

My opinion right after watching this film is that……. why was it made? The first film came out 7 years ago, and it wasn’t a huge success (it made almost $200 million, so it’s not like it was something that was missed enough for people to be fine with it, and was too long for the people who did care about it to want to immediately grab. If they wanted a sequel so badly, they should have done it 4 years ago. Regarding the film, the story and characters are painfully weak, as well as the awkward jokes, and just seems like a large waste of time.

Production

It was reported in March 2012 that the film was in development, and would bring back four out of the nine writers. The director of the first film named Kelly Asbury, was not able to reprise her directive role due to working for Smurfs: The Lost Village, though he remained as a creative consultant.

Regarding the production of the film, the animation was put to another company named Mikros Image, which was split into London and Paris. London had 60 percent of the animators, and Paris had 40 percent of the animators.

Story

The movie starts with some sort of pie monster or whatever named Moriarty (Jamie Demetriou) threatening to crush a bunch of gnomes in a museum, and is crushed by a dinosaur skeleton. We skip to our main characters, where the entire community has moved to London, and the lovebirds Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) are declared as the new leaders of the community. Juliet is taking this role very seriously to the point o neglecting their relationship for the garden, and after getting the idea from Nanette (Ashley Jensen), Gnomeo purchases a flour centerpiece.

Since we are about a quarter way through the film, it means that the rising action needs to start. Gnomeo’s quest goes as wrongly as possible, and has to be saved by Juliet from being crushed. This causes an argument where she admits the “he could wait, while the garden can”. They are interrupted when Sherlock (Johnny Depp) and his assistant Gnome Watson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) show up to report that the community has been kidnapped.

The four of them go down the sewer, and end up stuck with one another after an action scene with rats. They tell the couple the story of Moriarty, and how he pretty much likes to torture then crush gnomes, so they have to save everyone before that happens. Sherlock believes that the pie mascot survived the encounter in the beginning, and some sort of clue leads them to Chinatown, where they get another clue.

Some stuff happens, and in interpreting another clue, Sherlock decides that they need to go to an art gallery, while Gnomeo disagrees and think that they need to of to the museum.  Juliet ends up going with Sherlock, and Watson ends up having to chase after Gnomeo going to the museum.

A gargoyle shows up, and after a few minutes of a chase, Gnomeo is essentially kidnapped, and Watson is “smashed to death”. Juliet is an emotional mess, and is upset that Sherlock does not care that his friend is dead, and her partner is missing. Ultimately, he unknowingly throws her words back at her (not subtle with the message filmmakers) about how “the case can’t wait, but she can”.

Gnomeo ends up being with the other gnomes, who are partying, and think everything is going to be lively, only to soon find out that the gargoyles are planning on smashing them tomorrow. I want to wrap this boring movie up, so here it is. The two end up bumping into Sherlock’s former and bitter fiancee Irene (Mary J. Blige), who almost immediately throws him out, and refuses to give him the clue for his case. After Juliet barges back inside, and bashes Sherlock, while ranting about how Gnomeo is noting like him, Irene gives her the clue.

After finding the final clue, it is revealed that Watson is the mastermind. He faked his death, and apparently “kidnapped” the gnomes in custody send a message to Sherlock about how Watson is just as clever as he was, and to respect him, since Sherlock became more selfish, and all about his work. In order to not make Watson the villain, the gargoyles reveal that they don’t work for him, trap all three of them on a ship, and to smash the gnomes.

Moriarty speaks to them via webcam, and reveals that he sent the gargoyles to Watson, and used his anger at Sherlock to get back at him. So Juliet and Sherlock learn that they should not take their best friends/partners, and long story short, everything goes the way you expect it to go.

The first film was painfully generic, and didn’t have much interesting things happen, but you could say that it was slightly pleasant. There was nothing pleasant in this film, but it wasn’t horrid or painful to watch compared to other films I have watched. It’s a generic nothing film, and I am not shocked that it did not make much money. Meh.

Characters

The only two characters to go through any sort of character development is Juliet and Sherlock, and it’s the fact that they both are too obsessed with work, and neglect the people around them. It’s a good lesson, but I do think that it seems kind of contrived with Juliet, mainly with her conflict with Gnomeo. None of the others are really worth discussing, as they were either one-dimensional at best, or a complete non-factor, as most of them are just leftovers from the first film that have nothing to do.

Animation

The animation is fine. Quite simplistic, but at least it doesn’t try to do the most, and the colours are nice. Some of the animation movement can be stiff at times, but….. everything is fine. Nothing challenging o innovative, but nothing that is awful either.

Music

I….. really did not notice the music in the film. I know that Mary J. Blige was only on this film to sing a song (which was really lackluster for her standards). And the score is really generic. I am sure there was some pop tunes, but nothing was memorable. Even the first film had a bunch of Elton John songs that were memorable on it.

Reception at Release

When the film was released on March 23rd, it made $43.2 million in North America, and $47.1 million in other territories. In total, it added up to a worldwide amount of $89 million against a $59 million budget. Overall, it was a moderate success, but it wasn’t a large success that made a lot of money.

It has received negative reviews among critics and audiences, mainly with people claiming that there was no purpose for it to exist, especially so many years after the first film was released.

Score

Story: 5.5/10

Characters: 5.5/10

Animation: 7/10

Music: 5/10

23/40 = 58%

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