Gnomeo & Juliet (2011)

The William Shakespeare play redone as animated garden gnomes what can possibly go wrong, You have the red garden versus the blue garden in this battle of bitter rivalry that no-one can remember how it started and then Gnomeo and Juliet meet and fall in love. This is not that deep a film and is very much for the kids with some references for the adults as well, the voice acting provided by Emily Blunt, James Mcavoy, Jason Statham, Richard Wilson and Patrick Stweart and a whole host of other big name actors there really is quite a lot to like about the cast of this film. And while some of them get really small roles over all none of them do anything wrong, i do like what they do with Tybalt voiced by Jason Statham.


This is a simple story with bright colours that the kids will love and enough references to keep the adults entertained. I have heard bad things about how they address the ending of the original story and I have to say that I disagree, this is a kids film and it introduces a story to them that may encorage them to explore some of the great literature as it comes in a package they can appreciate, the fact that they even take the time to address the ending of the play and the fact that they are going for a different version is good and at least they do not brush it under the carpet.


All in all this is not a film I will revist time and time again but if I am ever fortunate enough to have kids it is definetly a film I would let them watch and would happily watch with them, it is a solid 3 star recommend for the kids.

X-Men:First Class (2011)

So after hearing some excellent reviews about the latest installment of the X-Men franchise I was keen to see it on the big screen, throw in James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender and I was sold on seeing it. I really enjoyed it there were enough mutant powers with enough weaknesses that you did not think well they would rule the world. The performances in the film from the other characters was also very good with January Jones as Emma Frost, Rose Byrne as Moira McTaggert, Nicholas Hoult as Hank all standing out to me and Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw was truly brilliant.

The only flaw in the film for me is the fact that it is a prequal, you suffer in the fact that you know where it is going to end up so the story is fully reliant on the journey and often that is not enough. This manages it well enough for me, I think that it is probably because i do not know that much about the X-Men except from the cartoon and the previous films, but I hope that it leads to other films in this world, even a continuation from the end of this film ignoring what happened in the original 3.

So I am saying 4 stars for this, the 1 star taken off as I was not that gripped, the threat scenes lose a lot as you know who survives to the end as it is a prequal.