Sorry, Elton, but this Sherlock is a bit clueless

GOODNESS knows what Sir Elton John and David Furnish find in garden gnomes that so captivates them, but their production company Rocket Pictures has come up with a punning sequel to its successful 2011 animation Gnomeo And Juliet. You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes, or even Sherlock Gnomes, to deduce which singing superstar is behind this movie; even before the opening titles are over, we’ve heard Crocodile Rock and Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. Sir Elton’s clout is detectable in the pedigree of the voice cast, too. Johnny Depp gives voice to the title character, with Sir Michael Caine, Dame Maggie Smith, and plain Emily Blunt and James McAvoy reprising their roles from last time. Not to mention Ozzy Osbourne, Richard Wilson, Stephen Merchant, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matt Lucas, Mary J Blige and another great dame, Julie Walters.

As for the story, it’s a forgettable and formulaic slice of nonsense in which our brainy but arrogant hero tries to find out who’s been stealing garden ornaments all over London, leading to a showdown at Tower Bridge with (spoiler alert) his arch-nemesis Moriarty, rather oddly represented as a big, camp baby.

I might have missed it by dozing off for a second, but given the gardens theme I was disappointed not to hear Sherlock musing ‘a lemon tree, my dear Watson’ (geddit!) at any stage in the proceedings. Otherwise, there are lots of wince-worthy gags, some clever animation, and several narrative twists that will almost certainly mystify the film’s young target audience.

Whether anyone really yearned for a sequel to Gnomeo And Juliet, I’m not sure, but a seven-year interval seems about right. At this rate they’ll never get to spin out the franchise to include Gnome On Holiday and Gnome Country For Old Men.

With any luck, the gnomes-pun philosophy stops here.