Gnomeo, Gnomeo, Thou Are Not Funny-O

I was kind of excited for a "double movie" weekend.  Gathering together the free movie passes clipped from cereal boxes, the Perrys headed out as a family to see "Gnomeo and Juliet".  Unfortunately, even though the net cost of the outing was essentially zero (we also had a coupon for free snacks, clipped from an El Paso taco shell box), we did not get our money's worth. 

Don't get me wrong.  The animation is phenomenal, as is the premise of the whole movie, setting the classic Shakespeare play against a modern interpretation using garden gnomes.   I wanted this movie to be like "Toy Story", but unfortunately, none of the characters or the situations they were put into illicited any sort of laughter or sympathy from the audience.  It was boring.  My wife yawned.  My kids sort of chuckled through the movie (more so the 9 year old), and I was wishing that I had purchased the iPhone I am thinking about getting, so I could at least have played Scrabble :)

With a soundtrack made up entirely of Elton John hits (some redone to a techno beat, others made to sound like elevator music), this was definitely a vehicle for the "Rocket Man" to promote himself (several references to EJ also pop up throughout the movie).  Also considering that the movie was partially produced by Elton's movie company, it really did feel like more of an ego-trip by a 70s rockstar who must have wished, at one time, to be a garden gnome.

I have lesson plans to get ready for tomorrow, and I cannot stop humming "Saturday Night" over and over again....ugh!

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