The New Touchstone version of Romeo and Juliet, Gnomeo and Juliet came out over this past weekend and wow it was a hit bringing in over 25,000,000 at the box office in one weekend. Gnomeo and Juliet sings to children and adults alike. Being an animated feature, kids are pulled in with the cute garden gnomes and adults are pulled in with the promise of Elton John musical features and adult humor. I’ve seen Gnomeo and Juliet 3 times already I took the kids and invited friends from the neighborhood to see what everyone thought of the movie and I came out with two different perspectives to share with you about Gnomeo and Juliet.

From an adult’s perspective Gnomeo and Juliet is a fun fresh retelling of Romeo and Juliet. Touchstone and Disney retold this story without all of the teenage angst, sex, and drugs. I laughed at all the jokes and smiled for the majority of the movie. Using Gnomes, one of the least attractive icons we have to tell one of the most beloved loves stories known was quite a creative movie. Gnomeo is a blue gnome played by James McAvory that leads the Montague family in their war against those darn red Capulets. The movie begins with a lawn mower race where Gnomeo loses to Tybalt (Jason Statham). The Montagues demand that Gnomeo takes revenge and the night he sets out his plan is when he meets Juliet played by Emily Blunt and falls hat over heels in love with her. When Juliet and Gnomeo meet in their private garden, they meet the most curious of characters, Featherstone the pink flamingo, who helps to teach them what love truly is.  Of course, they are interrupted by the on-going feud when Tybalt crosses the line and Romeo feels the need for revenge. That’s when the accident occurs and things go from bad to really bad. Find out what happens next by going to see the movie for yourself.

Someone asked me if this movie is a musical? No, Gnomeo and Juliet is not a musical, but it does have music perfectly placed throughout the movie making it delightful to watch. The music was inspired by Elton John, many of the songs were new versions sung by other people and some were even quite under toned as lines in the movie. My favorite part about the movie was the music, I think it perfectly complimented all of the scenes.

From my daughter’s perspective there was a little confusion. Zoe is 4 years old, didn’t want to wear the 3D glasses and on the way home from the movie she wanted to know who the bad guy was. I quickly thought of Tybalt as the bad guy, but my husband said they were all bad guys. All of the gnomes in Gnomeo and Juliet are angry vindictive people out to get one another. It wasn’t until they all thought Gnomeo and Juliet were gone that they decided to end the feud. Miles refused to wear his 3D sunglasses and said he didn’t like the movie at all, but he’s only 3 and any time he sees a trailer for the movie he says, Oh mom that’s Gnomeo and Juliet, and I never would have guessed that he could even pronounce such words. So for very young children, one the 3D is difficult for them to sit through. My other warning would be that it’s violent from a child’s perspective. Tybalt dies and I heard a child start wailing when we thought Gnomeo had died too. Now, quickly you will see that he’s alive, so I wasn’t too concerned about that scene at all. Of course, Zoe likes Juliet from a princess point of view.

Overall, I found Gnomeo and Juliet to be a great family film just not for any kids that are sensitive to fighting.

I was provided movie tickets for my family and I to see this movie by a local theater, I also was part of a Disney blogger trip where we previewed the movie and interviewed the cast. My opinions are my own.