Movie review: Gnomeo and Juilet "Shakespeare Betrayed"

Shakespeare was not consulted for the ending part.

We just love happy endings, and even though William Shakespeare's legendary and classical Romeo and Juliet was highly patronized in the early ages, we are clearly not from the early ages. Translated and portrayed in many ways, now Romeo and Juliet are disguised as garden gnomes--and the rest of their colliding families, too.

We look back at our boring Literature classes and barely recalled why the lovers killed themselves, and finally laugh at the release of Gnomeo and Juliet (directed by Kelly Asbury). The typical love story unfolds: Gnomeo (James McAvoy) meets Juliet (Emily Blunt) one night while they both looked for the fateful wild flower. The conflict goes with a meaningless "We can't be. She's a Red and I'm a Blue.", and the rest of the classical lovers' hide-outs and secret meetings, of course.

The movie was entertaining as it featured Elton John songs with the humor atmosphere leaving us falling off our seats. What I loved the most was the scene when Gnomeo was consulting the Shakespeare statue, and argued to the author they should have a happy ending. Shakespeare replied it simply couldn't be because his tragic ending became phenomenal.

I remember such love stories specially exist in our afternoon teleserye shows, where parents and the environment are the major enemies while lovers think they know everything and set off for an adventure on their own. With the population booming at a shocking rate, the youth tend to seek and patronize such fantasies rarely found in the real world, take the risk and hurt themselves in the end.

Reading the real story of Romeo and Juliet, it's actually laudable for its originality and exotic twist in the ending. The story, I believe, should not be criticized for its tragic and "culturally unacceptable" ending, but rather praised for its innovative style in writing a love story. 

What I loved the most about the movie, though, was its main aim to reawaken us kids about a classical and significant masterpiece in history.