Sherlock Gnomes

Sherlock Gnomes

Starring James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Johnny Depp, Chiwetel Ejiofor

Directed by John Stevenson

The Story:
After moving to London, gnomes Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) are preparing to enjoy life in a new backyard with their friends and family, albeit a smaller backyard than before.  When they're named successors to the gnome community, Juliet buries herself in trying to get the place looking amazing, while Gnomeo tries to draw Juliet's attention back to himself.

While out trying to find Juliet the perfect gift, Gnomeo comes into some trouble that Juliet helps him out of, but while they're away they hear word that something is attacking their home, and they return to find their friends and family gone, and meet Sherlock Gnomes (Johnny Depp) and his assistant Gnome Watson (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who have been investigating a string of gnome kidnappings.  All signs point to Sherlock's arch-nemesis Moriarty, but not everything is as it seems.  As Sherlock and Juliet take the lead in the investigation, Gnomeo and Watson feel more and more isolated and under-appreciated, leading to life lessons being learned by everyone.

The Synopsis:
I'll start out by saying I never saw "Gnomeo and Juliet," but I do enjoy myself a good pun.  So with the sequel centering on a pun-induced Sherlock Holmes, I couldn't help but check it out.  Sometimes puns can be hilarious, but other times it could be hilariously tragic.  "Sherlock Gnomes" unfortunately falls on the latter side of that.

As it is with children's movies, I understand they're not geared for my liking, but developing a film around a centuries-old known detective is probably not the best route to take, considering most of their targeted audience has never even heard of Sherlock Holmes before.  Taking that away, the film is still too adult-like to appeal to children, yet somehow too childish to appeal to adults.  It falls in-between the two, which is a very dangerous place for a children's film to fall into - children find it boring, while adults find it pretentious.

As gnomes disappear, Sherlock Gnomes is on the case.  Yet he's so pompous and overly arrogant, he serves as caricature of the classic Sherlock Holmes in a way that becomes more grating than endearing.  As he belittles and insults Watson over and over, it becomes apparent that there's a deeper story going on here, a more important theme than just missing gnomes - the story of being nice and not ignoring your friends around you.  Coincidentally (or not, since this is a film after all) Gnomeo and Juliet are going through the same existential crisis, as Juliet begins obsessing over making their new home the most beautiful place, while ignoring and even demeaning Gnomeo's input.  When the two couples meet, it's obvious that Sherlock and Juliet take charge while Watson and Gnomeo play second-fiddle.

The voice actors are great at their jobs, especially Johnny Depp as Sherlock, who has that natural intellectual voice with a hint of propriety.  Even though the film centers around the two couples, the most hilarious parts happen with the secondary gnomes, especially the three Goons (who, like the Minions, should have their own spin-off movie) and Mankini, who is terribly underused here.

When a film releases a trailer, it typically includes events that happen in the film, as a way to entice people to come see it.  However, the "Sherlock Gnomes" trailer is very misleading, as about 50% of the events in the trailer never happen, and it's unfortunate because it's that 50% that's the most humorous - including Sherlock's introduction with the accidental breaking of a Goon's head, Mankini making a Jacuzzi, and Sherlock saying they need a ship, with Gnomeo replying, "No ship, Sherlock" - another obvious pun on a very well-known adult saying.  

It doesn't take a Holmes-type intellect to tell what's going on here, even with the red herrings the film tries to throw in.  It all leads to a lackluster conclusion, and only one real question can be asked here: why was this film made in the first place?  Now that will take a Holmes-type intellect to answer.

The Summary:
A misleading trailer, coupled with an obvious plot and characters too old for children to know that are too pretentious for adults to enjoy, "Sherlock Gnomes" fails in pretty much every level, leading someone to wonder why this was even made in the first place.

The Score: C-