Sherlock Gnomes

The lovable garden gnomes surrounding lovers Gnomeo and Juliet are back. But dark clouds are gathering in paradise. Because after moving to London, the two are supposed to run the fortunes in the new garden, which means that Julia no longer has time for her Gnomeo. For the first time, the two of them really get into a fight and there is no time for reconciliation. Because all over the neighbourhood all the garden gnomes are mysteriously disappearing. And Gnomeo and Julia's friends and families have also been affected. Now it's up to the two to save the other gnomes. Luckily they get help from the master detective Sherlock Gnomes and his faithful assistant Watson. Sherlock Gnomes is sure that his mortal enemy Moriarty is behind the disappearance of the dwarves. But is he really the enemy? And is there enough time to save the garden gnomes?

It has taken six years for the garden gnomes from the charming pixie adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to be allowed to storm cinemas once more. After Gnomeo & Juliet turned out to be a surprise hit with its original gags, a great soundtrack full of classics by Elton John, who also produced the film, and some charming characters, a sequel was really inevitable. Still, it's taken so long that most viewers have probably already forgotten about the first part. But it doesn't really matter, because aside from the characters and the Elton John songs, Sherlock Gnomes has very little in common with Gnomeo & Juliet.

While the idea of having garden gnomes interpret Shakespeare worked well in a delightfully absurd way, the gnome variant of Sherlock Holmes somehow feels too forced. Especially since the gags that come out of it will probably only be understood by adult viewers. On the other hand, the humor, which is aimed more at the kids in the audience, is nowhere near as charming and spot-on as it was in the first film. Even if there are still some really good laughs, the movie as a whole seems like a somewhat lovelessly cobbled together commissioned work. Along the lines of: we have to make a sequel at all costs, even if nobody actually wants it anymore.

Now that may sound pretty nasty. But even if Sherlock Gnomes isn't a really bad movie, it falls far short of the potential that its predecessor was able to exploit so well. And - it also has to be said - Gnomeo & Juliet was far from being a masterpiece of modern animated film, despite many good ideas and delightful conceits. For an entertaining afternoon at the cinema, Garden Gnome Holmes may be a good choice. But more than nice entertainment for in between the film is really not - and therefore only worth seeing with restrictions for animation fans from 5 years!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp