Sherlock Gnomes

Voices of: James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Johnny Depp, Michael Caine, Mary J. Blige, Jamie Demetrious, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dexter Fletcher, Stephen Merchant, Maggie Smith, Ozzy Osbourne
Directed by: John Stevenson
Rating: PG
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
2018

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Two garden gnomes (James McAvoy, Emily Blunt) recruit Sherlock Gnomes (Johnny Depp) to help them solve the case of gnomes who have gone missing.

Review:

Tim: I have to be honest here- I sat down to watch Sherlock Gnomes because I wanted something to do with my son. I had no idea it was actually the sequel to 2011's Gnomeo and Juliet, a film I've never seen. Normally, I would never, ever watch a sequel before seeing the original, but this movie looked so terrible that I took a chance, figuring it wouldn't matter. It didn't. This film was so awful, I have no desire to see the first one. The biggest confusion I have is why so many great actors signed on for this awful film.

Sherlock Holmes has enjoyed quite a renaissance the last few years. There were the two Robert Downey Jr. movies, the excellent BBC series with Benedict Cumberbatch and some American television shows as well. That's all well and good, but we've had a lot of Sherlock recently. We didn't need an animated movie about gnomes to add to the mix. I honestly think this movie was made because you could make a gnome pun out of Holmes. That was likely the extent of the inspiration. We truly didn't need this movie.

It doesn't help that the script is just awful. I was able to pierce together that the first film was about Gnomeo and Juliet, as they are the main characters of this film. It felt like such an awkward merging of them with Sherlock Holmes. It makes Sherlock a supporting character, but it feels like he and the original two gnomes are battling out for supremacy. This movie is titled Sherlock Gnomes (because of the pun) when it's really more about the other two. None of it made sense and it gave the immediate impression that not a lot of thought went into this film. Unfortunately, every second of screen time backed this up. The movie is so poorly made and stupid. I kept thinking to myself, "They made an animated movie about gnomes. And then they made a sequel to that animated movie about gnomes and included a Sherlock Gnomes character." I mean, my god, are all the good ideas gone? This seems like such an incredibly stupid idea and yet two of these movies exist.

I will admit I liked hearing the voice cast- there's a bunch of good actors here. The downside is they have pitiful dialogue to utter and are stuck in a terrible movie. But, I legitimately like James McAvoy and Emily Blunt. They are really good actors. It was fun hearing them, even though the movie was so bad. Johnny Depp made a decent Sherlock, I suppose. I felt bad for Michael Caine because he deserved better than this. I also love Chiwetel Ejiofor, so again, I lamented his presence here. The movie also features Stephen Merchant and Maggie Smith, to complete my bafflement at how many great actors signed on to this. The biggest strength of the film is the voice cast.

I don't really even want to comment on the story. I suppose they did some clever things with various twists on the old Sherlock Holmes stories, but this is still a movie about garden gnomes, one of the least interesting things on the planet. The story isn't compelling in the least. It was so boring that my three year-old wasn't interested and I had to finish the movie by myself.

Sherlock Gnomes is an example of just shoddy work. The script was garbage, the direction was poor. It is so blatantly a cash grab. Kids might not be discerning viewers, but they deserve so much better than this.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 4.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Gnomeo & Juliet