Review of Sherlock Gnomes (2018) by Jason M — 31 Mar 2018

Sherlock Gnomes.

Initial Reaction: Gee, wonder who's going to show up in this film.

Main Characters.

Sherlock Gnomes: He's Sherlock Holmes if he was a gnome. He's voiced by Johnny Depp.

Dr. Watson: Sherlock's faithful assistant. He's voiced by Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Gnomeo, Juliet: Two lawn gnomes voiced by James McAvoy and Emily Blunt.

Plot Summary.

A crime wave has hit across a neighborhood in London. Every single lawn gnome has vanished and there's one guy made for the job: Sherlock Gnomes.

He and Dr. Watson have to follow the clues left behind by the culprit to find out where the lawn gnomes are.

And they are going to get help from Gnomeo and Juliet - no matter if they want the help or not.

SCORING.

Main Characters.

They do a good job of showing Sherlock as the arrogant, egotistical know it all. And I also liked Watson as the quiet assistant who does what he's told.

But Gnomeo and Juliet are really bland in this film. You could've substituted any two other gnomes and have gotten the same result. SCORE: 5.

Supporting Cast.

The rest of the lawn gnomes aren't really memorable - but they're not as bad as Moriarty. Sherlock's nemesis is portrayed as a creepy cute human kid (at least that's what I think he is). I really didn't like that. The master criminal deserved a lot better than this. SCORE: 2.

Plot.

The main plot goes about the standard business of following the clues - but the scenes don't really add up to anything special - except for the big reveal near the end of the film. SCORE: 4.

Originality.

This film is your standard mystery film. Making almost everyone a lawn gnome just doesn't do much for the story. SCORE: 4.

Violence Factor.

Not a lot - except for the many, many times a gnome is threatened to get smashed. Other than that, the confrontations between Sherlock and Moriarty have very little pop in them. SCORE: 4.

Other Moral Issues.

This film has a romantic pairing between a frog and a lawn gnome - which just feels wrong.

Besides, there are times when Sherlock should be more through than he is in this film. He makes a few really bad mistakes that no other Sherlock would make. SCORE: 3.

Final Score (out of 60): 22 % Score: 36.67%.

Here's an idea - have an original story with the lawn gnomes instead of adapting some other person's work.