“Gnomeo and Juliet” trailer

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on

When is a Disney feature NOT a Disney feature… when it’s a Touchstone release of an Elton John production. Gnomeo & Juliet is being directed by Kelly Asbury, with a voice cast including Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Ozzy Osbourne, Patrick Stewart and Emily Blunt. It opens February 11th, 2011.

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  • Justin M. Durden

    There were a few instances in the trailer that made me smirk, honestly.

    But that “Fun Guy” joke hurt me.

  • Justin M. Durden

    Oh, and I forgot to mention.

    Toy Story?

  • Anthony D.

    I watched it this morning and it was pretty good. I’ll see it!

  • Gobo

    I try to be open-minded about movies when all I’ve seen is a trailer. I try not to judge a movie too harshly.

    But this honestly looks awful. Dated pop-culture jokes, horrible puns, cliche gags that need a rimshot for the full effect…

    Maybe it’s a good movie with a bad trailer. But lordy, that’s a bad trailer.

  • Tim Schuit

    I cringed.

  • Toonio

    You cannot blame Disney for trying to capitalize on smurfs, gnomes or little creatures. But the music of the Tiki Room? C’MON!

    • http://dontpokesmot.blogspot.com/ Annie-Mae

      Oh God, if that’s what this is, I’ll see this movie 5 times before I let a copy of anything Smerf in my house.

  • https://twitter.com/danny_shea Danny Shea

    It’s the latest offering from Starz Animation who’ve worked on 9 and Space Chimps among others.

    • holyduck

      Last? uh-oh.

    • Sean Montgomery

      Starz Animation did ’9′, but ‘Space Chimps’ was made at Vanguard.

  • rvbradley

    “The Timeless Feud” between the bloods vs. the crips, they must be California Gnomes.

  • VelaPulsar

    So, is that sex joke in the middle of the trailer intended to atract adult audiences? oO

    • http://los-utopicos.blogspot.com allari

      My thoughts exactly, fellatio innuendo in a Disney film??????

  • http://www.facebook.com/dylan.h.king Dylan King

    God… why does everyone try to copy Pixar and their wonderful films? On another note, they must have paid Ozzy A LOT of dope to play a role in that hideous looking abomination.

  • http://blissfulignorance551.deviantart.com/ Austin

    I feel stupid. But it was ok.
    I like the idea of two family’s of Gnomes fueding, their kingdoms seperated by the fence thats eperates two yards. It has great potential, but sadly i know it won’t live up to all the awesome the concept could have led to.

    it was mediocre, but better looking than some films coming out soon….

  • andrew

    Lets all pretend this never happened

  • Tim Hodge

    This story was in development for years in the Hat building. It went through a couple of director teams before they officially shelved it. That was around 2007 (if I recall) just after Lasseter came aboard.

    Not sure how it worked out that Disney/Touchstone partnered w/ Starz, but I’ve read that Sir Elton played a big part in that.

    I’m sure others closer to the project will have better info than I do.

  • http://beesbuzz.biz/ fluffy

    Matrix references were already dated 10 years ago.

  • Juice box

    Stopped watching at the Matrix bullet-time shot

    • http://roundtableanimation.com joan

      AGREED THAT SHOT WOULD BECOME A CINEMA CLASSIC….WHEN THEY STOP USING IT!! DAMN IT!

  • Papa

    Yeah no kidding! Can we give the slow-mo 360 camera moves a quick death PLEASE??

  • DonaldC

    Seems to have few good jokes strewn about some really mediocre and outdated ones. Looks more like a Toy Story ripoff than anything else.

    • Tee

      There is a one line reference in the original Toy Story to the garden gnomes outside giving the toys inside a heads up about the return of the family (I think that’s the story there anyway). This looks like they took that line and ran with it.

      Expect the Christmas decorations in Andy’s attic- referenced in TS3- to receive a similar treatment.

  • Nipplenuts McGurk

    Yeah…they should just call this “Toy Story for Douchebags.”

    Painful. I have the same comment about the “Matrix shot” as I did for Alpha & Omega’s “That’s gotta hurt!” line …to the writer/director/storyboard artists that worked on this – you REALLY actually were sitting around thinking about gags, and someone ACTUALLY said “Ooooh, you know that cool slo-mo rotation thing in The Matrix!? Let’s do that!!! HAHAHAHA!!! We are SO clever!!!!” …and not ONE person…NOT ONE PERSON in the production raised their hand and said “Uh…guys.” For actually letting that bit in the movie, which was already unfunny when the first Shrek came out – I say: SHAME ON YOU, WHOEVER PUT THAT STUPID FUCKING GAG IN THIS MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Oh yeah…and “Fun Guy”!?!? Man. Seriously. Fuck this movie… the fact that this movie exists actually angers me. I’d rather see Alpha & Omega, actually….glarghghh.

    • Stephan

      From your reaction you’d think they just shat on your front porch…. did they?

      • B.R. Inle

        Um…yes. Yes they did.

    • Peter H

      Hold on – this wasn’t a “let’s do a cool shot” moment, it was the build-up to a gag sending up the “high drama martial arts dramatc slow mo thing” by having them have to drop out of it into a silly pose because a human was looking. The “Matrix-style bit” was the set-up, ‘serious heavy stuff’ to make the absurdity of the gag more pointed.

      Knock the gag if you like, but don’t miss the writers’ point!

    • Deaniac

      Note to self: give Nipplenuts decaf from now on.

    • Lindsay

      I’m not sure I follow you on the “That’s gotta hurt” line in A&O – the trailer (nor the film itself for that matter) has anyone saying that line. What part are you referring to?

    • Drew

      dislike
      (amazing that people think they’ve seen the entire film after 2mins and 30 seconds, and even get “angry”)

  • killskerry

    Just like the real Romeo and Juliet!

    I can’t wait until the scene where, weeping over the grisly murder of friend Gnomecutio, Gnomeo goes into a bloodthirsty rage and shatters Gnomebalts head on the porch steps!

    Or how about the part where Juliet OD’s on that red stuff from the Hummingbird feeder so everybody thinks she dead just so she can wake up in the tool shed (thinking to be reunited with her lost love) only to find Gnomeo’s lifeless corpse. Maybe then she can impale herself on a lawn dart in a fit of despair! FUN FOR THE WHOLE DARN FAMILY!

    Picture it. Ole Willie Shakesphere going over a draft of his immortal play and thinking…you know what this needs? A Matrix reference..and some pointless Lawnmower races to fill time! Oh if only lawnmowers existed now!

    Seriously tho. This is awful.

  • Haribo

    My god, they made an entire feature out of one stupid pun (the title). From the ‘geniuses’ who brought you Shrek 2 indeed

    • Paul N

      “Bee Movie,” anyone?

      • http://kecky.etsy.com kecky

        “Alpha and Omega,” anyone???

  • Michael

    The degree of unmotivated snark on this website is astonishing. Those who can, do. Those who can’t spend their days thinking up “witty” (apparently synonomous with “nasty”) things to say about the work of others. Get lives. Seriously.

    • Gobo

      Some of us “do”, but can also spot a really crappy trailer when we see one. I’d love it if this movie was as good as Mac says it is, and I’ll be right there to see it. But a bad trailer’s a bad trailer, and I’m not going to defend unfunny jokes. I’m too busy “doing”.

    • Bill

      And those that cant do but would like to take the time to read and respond to those snarky comments.

  • Mac

    I saw a test screening of this at the beginning of the year (many ‘finished’ shots from this trailer were still sketches at that point) and honestly it was much, much better than this trailer (and punny title) suggests. In some ways it owes a lot to Toy Story – the garden ornaments come alive in the same way as the toys – but everything is played for laughs much more (a lot of the funniest jokes in Gnomeo come from scenes that would provide genuine moments of pathos in a Toy Story feature). If you’re expecting the ‘depth’ of Toy Story 3, you’ll be disappointed, but if you’re looking for a funny animated hour and half then I found it funnier than most of the Dreamworks features (with much of the humour being silly and odd, rather than a little mean-spirited).

    One of the frustrating things about this trailer is the editing – a lot of the gags (and characters for that matter), which were really funny in the film, fall flat here. For example, Juliet releasing the fish, the Tiki Room gag and the ‘call me’ gag got huge laughs in the screening I attended, but all the timing and element of surprise is lost here. Also this light-hearted film is obviously not supposed to be a straight retelling of Shakespeare’s tragic play . I don’t want to give anything a way, but the trailer reveals that a statue of Shakespeare himself is one of the characters in this film. I can imagine this film isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but me and my friends had a great time at the early version we saw and it seemed the rest of the audience did too.

    • Different Opinion

      I’m guessing i was at the same test screening you were at- and in my opinion that trailer very clearly represents how awful that movie was.

  • holyduck

    Yeah as someone else noted, this was originally pitched to Disney, who shelves the project after Lasseter came aboard and made all those drastic changes to everything in the company. Then it was under Miramax… but of course, we all know what happened to them. So now we are left with this.

    I am fine with the concept, and the animation looks really good in places, but it still seems tiring. Did they NOT use ANY motion blurs in their rendering?! One of the producers of Shrek? Give me a break.

    Looks like a lot more than gnomes can come to life. It probably exists in the portion of the Toy Story universe no one wanted to go to.

  • Mr. James

    Wow, Nipplenuts McGurk, please, PLEASE take your Ridalin.

    As for the trailer, I’m ok with it. I probably won’t be seeing this film in the theatres but people on this site are far too crotchety and jaded. Are we all 14 or something? It’s a CARTOON for God’s sake.

    Plus, it’s about garden gnomes which in my opinion are not as played out as VAMPIRES and WIZARDS so it will be a nice change in the theatres. Although the premise isn’t that original it did make me smile at a few of the jokes and I can’t wait to get a good chuckle for an hour and a half. It’s going in my Netflix que immediately.

    • Cyle

      “It’s a CARTOON for God’s sake.”
      You do realize this is CARTOON Brew, right? Are you seriously surprised that people on a CARTOON blog take cartoons seriously?

      • Deaniac

        If by “seriously”, you mean writing snarky comments and acting like it’s the end of society, then yeah, I’m pretty shocked.

      • Person

        You have not been on the internet long enough.
        People here see animation as important. When we see schlock like this getting produced, we get angry. The very thought that companies can get away with lowering the reputation of a medium that has long suffered the title of “Children entertainment” even deeper into that stereotype frustrates us. We don’t like to see these executive designed cash ins made to rip off on other popular works. It’s lazy and an insult to lovers of animation.

      • Ryan

        um… maybe see the movie first, and then say it’s lazy. this is only a trailer.

      • Bill

        Trailers are supposed to sell or gives ideas of movies.

  • http://zeteos.blogspot.com/ Mick

    lovers of complaining will flock to the internet over this one

  • Alissa

    This trailer makes me sad and bored…

    Gnomes…GNOMES how can you go wrong with GNOMES for crying out loud, it’s one of the most inherently funny words in the English language! *grumble*

  • Scarabim

    Well…it was better than the trailers recently posted here about the turtles and the pigeons. Realize that’s not saying much…and god know it’s better than that awful Smurf trailer…

    Heck, I don’t know, I’ve seen worse.

  • Steve Gattuso

    Hmmm…

    (Checks Dark Horizons)

    Wow. Touchstone must really be confident of their 30 picture deal with Dreamworks if they’re looking for tax write-offs THIS badly.

  • Gnomelover

    If 8 year olds love it and flock to the theatres and then demand that their parents buy them all the related lunchboxes, t-shirts and other swag no one will care about all the cynical comments on this page from people who are not the target market for this movie.

    I remember people dissing Cars when it came out and the revenue stream off that movie continues to help water the grass and keep the lights on at Pixar many years later.

  • http://www.taberanimation.com Taber Dunipace

    A bit off topic but… Is anyone else tired of the “door slam” sound used to emphasize everything in trailers?

    • Bill

      Theres the door slam and that big bottom to narrow top font that you see in almost every animated film trailer, always with a shy backgrouund.

      I’m tired of all of that stuff, it reall is as if they tell the computer to make these trailers.

      • Bill

        I ment sky, must be from the Simpsons opening or something, wow my typing was bad that day.

  • http://roundtableanimation.com joan

    WHY ARE AKK THE JOKES IN THESE KINDA FILMS TIMED OUT WITH THE SAME PACING…..BUILD UP WITH MUSIC, AND DELIVERY WITHOUT IT?

    • squarejawhero

      It’s a trailer. It’s not timed the same as the movie.

  • http://dontpokesmot.blogspot.com/ Annie-Mae

    This is a pretty bad looking movie, as well as a bad trailer, and yet I’m not really upset with it. My 1st impulse is that it looks better then Fly Me To The Moon and Space Chimps. The characters are slightly more original and the designs aren’t anymore ugly then actual Gnomes look. It’s a story we can predict the ending for and if the competition is Smerfs or Yogi Bear or some other tripe that is equally as bad I’d rather send my kid to this.

  • Bill

    Knomes? Whats next? Garden flamingos? Sprinklers? Hoses? This is just desperate, and they say that having a director from the Shrek films is a GOOD thing!

    • Frankie

      What about knives and forks or something dumb like that! :)

  • AaronSch

    This looks very unappealing. Padding the film with classic Elton John songs will do little to salvage what appears to be a grade “B” animated film.

  • Gnomelover

    If you are over 6 or 7 years old this movie isn’t intended for you so your jaded opinions don’t mean anything.

    If it makes money it will be up to the kids who like it, not the adults who want it to be something it’s not.

    And if you’re comparing apples to apples I doubt it had the budget Toy Story had.

    • Cyle

      It sounds like you’re making excuses for this film, and I don’t know why. I haven’t seen the film, so I can’t give a verdict yet. Regardless, no one should ever settle for mediocrity. Anything worth doing is worth doing right. Plus, I doubt most 6 or 7 year olds would get the sexual innuendo or Matrix references. Heck, they probably haven’t read Romeo and Juliet either, so you can’t say this is just for the kids. Believe it or not, criticism is a good thing. If done correctly, it helps people sharpen their skills and learn what works and what doesn’t.

    • holyduck

      But the people under 6 or 7 can’t express constructive criticism in a way that many find accepting.

    • Classic

      Honestly, I think our children deserve better.

    • Bill

      Comparing Toys to Garden knomes is just as logical as apples and oranges! They’re both commonly items, typically plastic, but thats beside the point.

      My question is, whoever said this was intended for kids? Sexual references arent something kids should see in movies.

      • Tee

        I think that the comparison is valid: common figural household objects that are alive, but hide this fact from the human world. Same idea.

  • Otaku-sempai

    Let’s take one of the greatest romantic tragedies in English stage, screen and literature, kiddify it and give it a happy ending. Seems wretched.

  • Pieter

    Shakey must be rolling in his grave…

  • Dave

    Some CGI production must do a Matrix shot of some character having a bowel movement. Followed by three seconds of silence. Then a cute water splash.

  • James E. Parten

    I believe there were eighteenth-century bowdlerizations of the Bard that gave “Romeo and Juliet” a happy ending.

    At that, the only thing that seemed to be missing in the trailer (which I saw in the theater as a preview with “Alpha and Omega”), was a reference to Travelocity’s “roaming gnome”.

    My initial reaction was “Gimme a break–and while you’re at it, you can check the oil”. But there have been pictures that exceeded the expectations provided by their trailers.

  • http://rafatoro.blogspot.com Rafa

    The merchandising from the film is already starting to surge !!!

    http://www.therubberplantation1.ashopcommerce.co.uk/p/1128694/ass-midget-full-size-gnome-butt-plug.html

    Can´t wait to have one of those!!!

  • Rooniman

    One word: Agony.

  • simon

    Is this a remake of Phil Nibblinks “Romeo and Juliet: sealed with a kiss”??

  • pappy d

    This picture had been on & off since the last century when Elton John first pitched it to Disney. I feel an odd sense of relief that it’s finally made.

    Don’t mind the trailer. Kelly Asbury always had great comic timing.

  • C. Stulz

    I’m a fan of Fozzie Bearish bad puns, and that “Fun Guy” line was not only funny, but thee funniest thing in that trailer!

  • stew

    shakespeare loved puns/corny lines and double entendres..it’s gnomes!..lighten up people!

  • aj

    “what fools these marotals be” seriously, what could posses people to think making this was a good and profitable idea. I should visit hollywood someday, I have to see frst hand what kind of culture can accept this kind of stupidity as good. my advice watch braz luhrmanns version for a modern day romeo and juliet its watchable. I just can’t belive it and my hand won’t stop face palming.

  • CGguy

    It’s plainly obvious that forum Trolls like “Nipplenuts” are all bitter, basement dwelling ex-students who after spending 40 grand worth of mommy and daddy’s money on a Devry, or Ai animation course still find themselves unemployed.

  • http://noteimperfect.blogspot.com Lonestarr

    Hey. Long time reader, maybe the third or fourth time commenter.

    Saw the trailer today. Wow.

    Now, I’m not the kind of guy who throws around the expression ‘forced sterilization’ very often (I’m really not), but anyone who thinks this film looks even slightly good…yeah, sign those people up, post haste.

  • http://1me0.deviantart.com/ Joel

    This looks like it’s gonna be as bad as, if not worse than, “Romeo & Juliet: Sealed With a Kiss.”

  • s.w.a.c.

    Maybe I’ll stick with Nelvana’s Romie-0 & Julie-8…

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx1jE0DVg2o

  • Emily

    “Get thee to a 3-D theater!”

    So many gimmicks piled into one catch-phrase.

  • superpooper

    Look…

    as we know…it’s always the people at the top who make the calls on gags etc.

    It’s the grunts on the bottom who are the intelligent ones.

    The real artists.

  • Teri

    Michael Caine? Maggie Smith? PATRICK STEWART? Noo-o-o-o, why? You’re all too smart, talented, and awesome for this crap. D:,

  • Picaquill

    Ye Gads but there are a great many soured, cynical and humourless posters here. Lighten up people. Gnomeo & Juliet is perhaps no classic but for heaven’s sake, can’t you just enjoy the film for what it is… light, breezy and somewhat irreverant entertainment. If you find the storyline corny, well so be it. But don’t trash the animators and creative backroom work of so many who laboured to get it to the big screen — unless, of course, you can prove you have the skills to do it better.