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sparkyblizz · 9 months ago

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Sherlock Gnomes: The Movie About Gnome Johnlock (No, Really)

I really genuinely like this movie and its predecessor, Gnomeo and Juliet, and I call them cinematic masterpieces. While they may be silly movies, they're also charming, have a great soundtrack, and the sequel has a surprisingly impactful story, I feel. In regards to the title of this post, the plot of the film revolves around the dynamic of the two main partnerships—Juliet and Gnomeo, and Sherlock and Watson. Their relationships are even paralleled, as Juliet has become neglectful of her partner in the face of her newfound responsibilities, just as Sherlock has become neglectful of his partner in the face of his work. A very important part of this movie is both of these people (or rather, gnomes) must learn that they've made their partners feel underappreciated, and they must fix things and make amends. I'm not kidding.

This movie begins with the human characters, Mr Capulet and Miss Montague moving into their new house in London. the previous leaders of each garden, Lord Redbrick and Lady Bluebury name Gnomeo and Juliet the new leaders of this new garden. Juliet now takes on the responsibility of getting the garden ready. the conflict with our main couple is set up pretty early, when Gnomeo tries to obtain a Cupid's Arrow Orchid (the flower they both tried to get in the first movie, both put their hands on, and had their love at first sight moment over) and Juliet is mad at him. This is when this exchange occurs:

GNOMEO: Unbelievable! What do you care more about, the garden or me?

JULIET: Oh, you're being ridiculous!

GNOMEO: That is not an answer.

JULIET: The garden can't wait and you can!

Immediately after this, they discover that all the other gnomes have been kidnapped, and this is when they meet our other leads, Sherlock Gnomes and Dr Watson. Sherlock believes Moriarty, an ornamental mascot for a pie company, is responsible, even though Watson and Sherlock saw him get destroyed. Sherlock believe's he's lived, and the clues are his calling cards.

Throughout this movie, we see Sherlock belittle and disregard Watson, as well as being curt and dismissive to everyone. You also see that Sherlock's general lack of care or tact means that Watson has to clean up after him, apologising for him and being the more friendly of the two. This is especially exemplified when we are introduced to the Empress Dowager Pom-Pom, who Sherlock offended, and Watson sent a bouquet of orchids as an apology gift, but as he wasn't the one that offended her, they are not forgiven.

During their investigation, our two pairs split up, Gnomeo siding with Watson, who wants to go investigate the museum, while Sherlock wants to go meditate at the modern art gallery so he can crack the latest clue, and Juliet agrees with him. Gnomeo runs off, upset with Juliet, and when Sherlock shows no care, Watson lets out a wistful sigh, saying, "Sherlock Gnomes," and assures Juliet that he will go after Gnomeo, which leads to this exchange between the two at the museum:

WATSON: Look, I know you're angry.

GNOMEO: How would you feel? It's like she doesn't even care about me!

WATSON: A partner who takes you for granted. Can't think of what that's like.

GNOMEO: I don't know how you put up with that gnome.

WATSON: If we had six months, I'd list all his faults. But despite them, he is a brilliant detective. We all have our good and bad sides. Sherlock, Miss Juliet... me.

GNOMEO: D'you know what, mate? You're right. I shouldn't have left her. I need to go back. I need to make this right.

This is obviously a very good example of the parallels between the two relationship conflicts and shows us how Watson feels underappreciated, just like Gnomeo. In the next scene, Gnomeo is kidnapped by one of the gargoyles that kidnapped the others, and Watson falls from a great height, and you hear a smashing noise. Juliet lets out a cry, and this is the first scene you see Sherlock show emotion. His eyes widen, he looks horrified and saddened. He whispers "Watson" in disbelief. Crucially, Juliet is behind him, and cannot see his face. She is crying, and for the first time, he shows a gentleness, softly urging her to keep going with him. I think this is especially important because this is the first time we've seen him show care towards anyone, and we see he truly cares about his partner.

In the next scene, Sherlock is trying to keep up his composure, not acknowledging the events that have just happened, instead focusing on the case, which leads to this interaction:

JULIET: Gnomeo got taken. He is gone! And Watson just got smashed. Why aren't you sad or angry?

Once again, she is stood behind Sherlock, unable to see his face, as we can see he's struggling to keep face, his expressions wavering.

SHERLOCK: Sadness and anger will not help me save one single gnome. Emotion is the enemy of logic.

JULIET: That is not an answer.

SHERLOCK: The case can't wait. You can.

This is a parallel to the earlier argument between Juliet and Gnomeo, where she has her words parroted back to her, and realises how in the wrong she was. She leaves, and we once again see Sherlock look saddened. He's clearly a man that hides his emotions and doesn't want to be seen as vulnerable.

I did want to note that part of the ballad I Need You to Turn To by Elton John plays over a scene of Sherlock and Juliet in the gallery, each ruminating on their sadness, in which the lyrics heard are:

And I wonder sometimes and I know I'm unkind, but I need you to turn to when I act so blind

And I need you to turn to when I lose control

You're my guardian angel that keeps out the cold

Which I think is fitting lyric choice for two people who lost their partners in different ways, struggling to cope with it, knowing that they've not treated them the way they should.

Another thing that makes this movie great to me is Irene, Sherlock's ex-fiancee, who is voiced by MARY J. BLIGE. She is mad at Sherlock for ending their engagement in a letter. She is a doll, and she sings Stronger Than I Ever Was, a Mary J. Blige song, to Sherlock and Juliet, and this song is a banger. I was obsessed with it, and when I was binge reading a fanfiction series over 2-3 days, I listened to this song on repeat. (Said fanfiction series is called Phantoms and Mirages, a series on AO3 that is about Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies and is a Simon Blackquill/Bobby Fulbright fic series. This will mean nothing to you if you're not an AA fan, but this movie and this pairing are inextricably linked for me, as it was looking this movie up on tumblr that led me to this fanfiction. But I digress.) Irene throws Sherlock and Juliet out, and Juliet storms back into the doll museum that Irene is the boss of. Irene proceeds to sling passive-aggressive insults at the gnome, thinking that she's Sherlock's new girlfriend, which leads to this exchange:

JULIET: Sherlock didn't "choose" me.

IRENE: And he never will. With Sherlock, work always comes first. There's always another case to crack, another mystery to solve, another backyard of gnomes to rescue.

This shows that there's precedent to Sherlock's neglect of the people he's close to. I also want to add this interaction, after Juliet talks about how wonderful and caring Gnomeo is:

IRENE: A man doesn't make you strong.

JULIET: You're right, a man doesn't make you strong. But the right partner can make you stronger. But I've let mine down, and now I need to make it right.

This convinces Irene, who hands over the clue that Sherlock and Juliet came for, and she requests that Juliet come back to tell her about saving the day, cementing their newfound friendship. Love these ladies, queens, I tell you! I also want to note that there is a poem on the final clue (the clues are cards with an M on them, for reference): "You already know it's all about you. What is the pattern in the final clue?"

Another great thing to note is that the final clue leads them to Traitor's Gate, which Sherlock says is where he and Watson solved their first case. This is amazingly poetic, as once they enter Traitor's Gate, they discover Watson, who survived.

SHERLOCK: Show youurself, Moriarty!

WATSON: No, Sherlock. Not Moriarty.

JULIET: Watson?

SHERLOCK: But... that's impossible.

WATSON: Not impossible. Merely improbable. [Here he holds up the calling card with an M on it, and turns it upside down.] It wasn't an M. It was a W, for Watson. But I knew you'd miss that, because it had to do with me.

Watson revealed that he did not intend to hurt the gnomes, and apologises to Juliet, saying it was only to challenge his partner. He enlisted the help of his friends from Traitor's Gate, the gargoyles, for his plan.

WATSON: Miss Juliet, I am sorry I had to involve your garden. But this was the only way to get through to Sherlock.

SHERLOCK: You did all this? But why?

WATSON: Because we used to be a team. Sherlock and Watson, friends, partners in crime-solving. But over time, you stopped respecting me. The only ornament you respected was Moriarty. There was only one way I could prove myself to you: I had to pretend to be Moriarty. I orchestrated this game. I challenged you to a battle of wits.

SHERLOCK: And you won. You beat me.

WATSON: That's all I wanted to hear. And now you and I are finished. Maybe you'll treat your next partner a little better.

The gargoyles turn on Watson, imprisoning him, Sherlock, and Juliet on a boat, and it is revealed that Moriarty really is alive and sent the gargoyles to deceive Watson. He took the gnomes and plans to have them smashed by way of the counterweights of a bridge crushing them as the bridge moves to make way for the boat Sherlock, Watson, and Juliet are trapped on.

MORIARTY: In that moment I saw how I could finally bring you down, Sherlock. I saw how you treated Watson. Poor old miserabubble Watson. He looked so sad. So I thought, I'll use that. I sent the gargoyles to you, Watson, and they let you think you were in charge. As if! You know what your problem is, Watson? You're too nice, too trusting.

I think it's ingenious that Moriarty saw the failings of his nemesis and the mistreatment of his partner and orchestrated this plan to take advantage of it. Poetic. This leads to this next exchange:

SHERLOCK: So, Watson, on a scale of 1 to 10, how well do you think this is going?

WATSON: I never meant for any gnome to get hurt. You know that.

JULIET: Hey, knock it off, both of you. Watson screwed up, but you did, too.

SHERLOCK: What did I do?

JULIET: The same thing I did. We took our best friends for granted, we stopped listening. They were the last thing we were thinking about and they should've been the first. [She leaves.]

SHERLOCK: I suppose somewhere within that haystack of emotional twaddle there may lie a thin needle of truth.

WATSON: One last case.

SHERLOCK: One last case.

Juliet's speech to me is one of my favourite things about this movie, and how even though Sherlock is still putting on his facade and not being vulnerable or showing his emotions, he manages to somewhat acknowledge her point.

Juliet and Gnomeo are reunited, and as they go to deal with the gargoyles, we get this next interaction that's important to me.

SHERLOCK: I'll draw his fire, you rescue the gnomes.

WATSON: You trust me to save the gnomes?

SHERLOCK: Well, of course. You're Watson.

Previously, Sherlock has saddled Watson with the dirtier work, even using him as a punching bag to practice his fighting moves on (albeit Watson was wearing padding). Now, this shows growth, in him acknowledging Watson's worth, and showing him respect again.

Moriarty next threatens to throw his hat at the drone Watson, Juliet, and Gnomeo are on, and Sherlock, next to him, knocks into him to stop him, but the hat still knocks into the drone, causing it to fall out of the air. Moriarty then steps on Sherlock's leg, injuring him, and goes to finish the job. Moriarty knocks Watson off the bridge, and as he holds on with one hand, Moriarty steps on his fingers, trying to get him to let go. Sherlock tries to come to his aid, albeit being unable to walk, begging Moriarty not to hurt Watson. He throws himself at Moriarty, knocking them both off the bridge as Watson cries out his name, and uses his cane, which has a grappling hook function, to catch his partner as Moriarty falls into the river below.

WATSON: You'd give your life for me?

SHERLOCK: Of course.

WATSON: Because you're the sworn protector of London's garden gnomes.

SHERLOCK: No. Because we are the sworn protectors of London's garden gnomes. Watson and Sherlock, partners and friends. And I promise to treat my partner a lot better. That is, of course, if you'll have me back. [He holds out his hand.]

WATSON: Watson and Sherlock. I rather like the sound of that. [He takes Sherlock's hand.]

I love the noble self-sacrifice or attempted self-sacrifice as a trope, it often makes me emotional, and I love this reconciliation. Sherlock pledges to treat Watson better, if Watson will give him a second chance, and he will. After this, Watson and Sherlock and Gnomeo and Juliet are paralleled, Gnomeo and Juliet standing hand in hand, and Sherlock with one hand on Watson's shoulder and the other on Watson's cane, for support for his injured leg.

The last scene of the movie is in the garden in spring, as Lady Bluebury and Lord Redbrick proclaim Gnomeo and Juliet the new leaders of the garden. Irene shows up, slaying, makes a minor passive-aggressive comment to Sherlock while greeting Watson happily, and Sherlock acknowledges that he deserves that. Sherlock and Watson say that Juliet and Gnomeo have a 0% chance of breaking up, and as they turn to leave, Sherlock puts an arm around Watson for support once more, and Watson puts his arm around Sherlock once more, and they walk off together as the movie fades to black.

This was mostly a plot summary, or rather, a character arc summary, but I just think the movie speaks for itself, and that it's genuinely amazing that the relationship between these two incarnations of famous characters is compared with the relationship of the romantic leads, and that they both have the same lesson to learn. To me, even though it is canonically platonic and can obviously be read as platonic and still be just as powerful, I feel like you can also analyse this through a romantic lens, which is one of the things I love about this movie. But ultimately, the story of this movie and of Juliet and Sherlock having to learn the error of their ways and to respect and appreciate their partners is just wonderful to me.

#sparkyblizz speaks #random rants #sherlock gnomes #long post #long as hell post #aa5 spoilers #dual destinies spoilers #the title of the fic series mentioned might spoil someone for the game so jic

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bakerstreetbabble · 6 years ago

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Sherlock Gnomes: my expanded review for IHearofSherlock.com

A couple weeks ago, I wrote a brief review of the 2018 film Sherlock Gnomes, and animated take on the legendary detective (as well as a sequel to an earlier animated feature, an animated version of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, called Gnomeo & Juliet). Shortly after I wrote that review, I offered to expand it a bit and submit it to I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere. They posted my expanded review today. I've copied it below.

"...scrambling over your garden wall." (EMPT)

Several years ago (in 2011, to be exact), when my older daughter was a lot smaller, we watched a fairly humorous children's film adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, entitled Gnomeo and Juliet. I remember how, as a five year-old, she was entertained, and there were enough tongue-in-cheek Shakespeare references to keep me interested as well.

As you can imagine, the “star-crossed lovers” do not take their own lives at the end, as the target audience would likely find such a thing a bit traumatic. Still, the animation was pretty good, the soundtrack was fun, and there was a very entertaining bit with Patrick Stewart as a statue of the Bard himself.

In March 2018, a sequel to Gnomeo and Juliet was released, this time a spoof on Sherlock Holmes: the title of this new gnomish adventure was—you guessed it—Sherlock Gnomes. The film is part sequel, involving the characters of Gnomeo and Juliet in new adventures, but it is also (of course) a spoof of some of our favorite Sherlock Holmes characters. In fact, the film starts out with a funny little bit where a few gnomes argue about which story they’ll tell next (“Game of Gnomes! Or The Gnome Ranger!”).

Sherlock Gnomes (voiced by Johnny Depp) is a garden gnome detective (that is, a detective who happens to be a garden gnome), who is sworn to protect all of London's garden gnomes. He finds himself pitted against his old archenemy, Moriarty: a sort of "Bob's Big Boy" type of pie mascot (don't ask).

Sherlock is a kind of self-absorbed character, who doesn't treat his sidekick Watson with the respect he deserves. Of course, this is a subject that has been explored in other Holmes films and spoofs. (The Holmes/Watson relationship in the Guy Ritchie films, or the spoof Without a Clue, both spring to my mind.)

Their paths cross those of Gnomeo and Juliet, who are attempting to improve the garden of the house they’ve just moved to, when their fellow garden gnomes are abducted by the evil Moriarty. Or are they? Sherlock Gnomes hears of that abduction and many more around London, and…the game is afoot!

Honestly, I found the film pretty entertaining. Depp was not the best Holmes I've ever seen (well...heard), while Chiwetel Ejiofor voices Watson with great subtlety and dignity. There were all kinds of goofy nods towards the Sherlock Holmes canon: Doyle's Doll Museum, Wisteria Lodge Florist Shop, a grating with "221B" on it, while Sherlock and Juliet encounter a "fierce" pug dog, which Mr. Gnomes calls "the Hound owned by the Baskervilles."

One character even delivers the entertaining line, “No ship, Sherlock!” And of course, there's the obligatory deerstalker cap, Inverness cape, and magnifying glass.

In a little homage to the BBC's Sherlock, perhaps, Mr. Gnomes occasionally retreats into a "mind palace" of sorts, with a completely different style of animation for those sequences (it looks like black and white cel animation, although I suspect it is still done mostly with computers). One little animation detail that I thought was odd: Sherlock Gnomes has a tiny little white beard on the tip of his chin! I think this was probably the only bearded Holmes I’ve ever seen on film. Not that a beard that small is really deserving of the name...

The voice cast is a panoply of celebrities: James McAvoy (Gnomeo), Emily Blunt (Juliet), Michael Caine (Lord Redbrick), Maggie Smith (Lady Bluebury), Mary J. Blige (Irene), and many more. Even Ozzy Osbourne has a brief role, as a somewhat befuddled ceramic fawn.

The animation is quite high quality, and the aforementioned "mind palace" sequences were bizarre and fun. The story is packed with enough action and silly humor to keep children entertained, while there are enough pop culture references sprinkled throughout to keep adults from being completely bored.

As mentioned above, Sherlockians will no doubt be amused by canonical references here and there. The plot as a few fun little twists, so the movie isn’t as predictable as some animated feautres can be. As a Holmes fan, I found it enjoyable enough, if not incredibly brilliant. The film only received a 28% on film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, but I've seen much poorer films with higher scores.

If you have young children, you could do a lot worse. Or if you’d simply like to indulge in 90 minutes of innocent fun, it’s worth a few laughs. Oh, and did I mention that most of the soundtrack is made up of Elton John songs? (One of the film companies that produced the film was founded by Elton John, so it’s no surprise.)

I would give the film 4 Calabash Pipes on a 5-Pipe scale.

#I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere #Sherlock Gnomes review

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