Movie Review: "Gnomeo and Juliet" & "The Illusionist" (2010)

As one can imagine, "Gnomeo and Juliet" borrows heavily from the Shakespeare tragedy. It's the Reds versus the Blues in a duplex backyard rivalry. The two owners don't like each other, their yard decor takes it a step beyond. In the "Toy Story" conceit, garden gnomes come to life when people aren't looking. And so, Gnomeo and Juliet meet and fall in love, amid their families' feud. The violence of the original story is replaced by some more benign ceramic damage, and a visit with the Bard himself leads to the question whether tragedy can be turned into happily-ever-after.

I'm not the foremost authority on animated movies (again, that may be my little niece) but "Gnomeo..." just doesn't work on several levels. I'm not saying that it's terrible, unenjoyable for its target audience, or that I'm expecting animation to be high art. British films have never been a detractor in my book --- I am a PBS Masterpiece Classic/Mystery acolyte --- but this was almost cloyingly so. The Elton John caricatures and songs were just plopped in to take up minutes. This is a movie that invites comparison and especially at the Shakespeare scene, requires a bit of extra-textual knowledge to make some of the jokes amusing (such as one red gnome wearing a pair of Speedos the Borat way). I'm not sure the people behind "Gnomeo..." are precisely aware of who they intend their audience to be. At times, I imagine that this story is difficult to follow for animation's usual target audience (to pull some numbers out of a hat, ages 2-12). If you're an adult, it's a bit pedantic. As ratings go, my thumb is dangling sideways, trending down.

If you're looking for a great animation that can actually count as higher art, I would definitely recommend this year's Oscar-nominated "The Illusionist" instead. While there's nothing untoward in it, this one really isn't for the kids. It may be unfair pitting these two movies against each other, but no one ever said life is fair.

The relationship between the magician and the char-girl is a bit complicated to figure out. That's one of the things that most stuck in my craw as I was watching and for a while afterward. The nature of their bond at times seems father-daughter and at other times, husband-wife. They sleep in separate rooms of the short-lease flats. She cooks some meals, but otherwise spends her days walking around trying to look pretty and staring at the newest items she wants. As performance artist acts lose favor to rockabillies, the lanky magician plays to smaller audiences then picks up odd jobs to buy her clothes. The viewer is left to wonder what exactly the magician is getting out of this relationship. It reminded me a great deal of the narrative of Theodore Dreiser's "Sister Carrie" with the way its female protaganist is mostly viewed as an object to possess and upkeep, where sex is implied, but never mentioned.

"The Illusionist" is artistically exceptional to anyone who grew up watching throwback animation, as opposed to the saccharine look of "Gnomeo..." or "Toy Story." There is not much dialogue, and much of what there is consists of grunts, French or English with heavy accents. A bit surprisingly, though, it works wonderfully.