Sherlock Gnomes (PG.)
Directed by John Stevenson
Starring James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Johnny Deep, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matt Lucas and Maggie Smith. 86 mins.
Animated versions of classic tales with a cast of garden gnomes: it's not a bad idea, but if someone pitched it to you I don't think you'd rip their arms off with enthusiasm. Unless, it was being pitched you by Elton John and David Furnish, when it would become a simply marvellous idea and luvvies great and small, old and young would flood to add their vocal talents to it.
The whole project is cosier than a Masonic lodge performing a Tiny Tears beddie time ritual (you can add Michael Caine, Stephen Merchant, Ashley Jensen, Julie Walters and Richard Wilson to the list of name performers listed above) but it has enough energy and invention to please the kids. This sequel has the cast of the previous Gnomeo and Juliet joined by Sherlock (Depp) and Watson (Ejiofor) to solve a dastardly scheme concocted by Moriarty (Jamie Demetriou – no, I've never heard of him either and can only guess how he managed to slip into this V.I.P lounge.) Demetrious plays him as a mix of Alan Carr and Russell Brand, a genuinely terrifying prospect.
Surely though the project has a fundamental conceptual flaw: in a wholly animated world, gnomes don't stand out. Only the costumes really let you know they are supposed to be gnomes and the title character just looks like a diminutive human.
Just to keep it all in house, the score is provided by classic old Elton hits. I've no problem with that – before half of you were born he wrote some cracking tunes. I thought he might have been able to come up with a few original tunes. I don't know, something like “Ha ha ha, he he he, I am Sherlock Gnomes and you can't catch me.”
Directed by John Stevenson
Starring James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Johnny Deep, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matt Lucas and Maggie Smith. 86 mins.
Animated versions of classic tales with a cast of garden gnomes: it's not a bad idea, but if someone pitched it to you I don't think you'd rip their arms off with enthusiasm. Unless, it was being pitched you by Elton John and David Furnish, when it would become a simply marvellous idea and luvvies great and small, old and young would flood to add their vocal talents to it.
The whole project is cosier than a Masonic lodge performing a Tiny Tears beddie time ritual (you can add Michael Caine, Stephen Merchant, Ashley Jensen, Julie Walters and Richard Wilson to the list of name performers listed above) but it has enough energy and invention to please the kids. This sequel has the cast of the previous Gnomeo and Juliet joined by Sherlock (Depp) and Watson (Ejiofor) to solve a dastardly scheme concocted by Moriarty (Jamie Demetriou – no, I've never heard of him either and can only guess how he managed to slip into this V.I.P lounge.) Demetrious plays him as a mix of Alan Carr and Russell Brand, a genuinely terrifying prospect.
Surely though the project has a fundamental conceptual flaw: in a wholly animated world, gnomes don't stand out. Only the costumes really let you know they are supposed to be gnomes and the title character just looks like a diminutive human.
Just to keep it all in house, the score is provided by classic old Elton hits. I've no problem with that – before half of you were born he wrote some cracking tunes. I thought he might have been able to come up with a few original tunes. I don't know, something like “Ha ha ha, he he he, I am Sherlock Gnomes and you can't catch me.”
