‘Sherlock Gnomes’ stars James McAvoy, Emily Blunt meet LI kids

On Tuesday evening we went to Manhattan to see a screening of the new movie “Sherlock Gnomes,” starring Emily Blunt and James McAvoy. In this animated film, there were many exciting twists and elements to the story.

This movie is a sequel to the 2011 animated movie “Gnomeo & Juliet.” Emily stars as Juliet and James as Gnomeo. They are both back for this film, but it is different in many ways and you could tell that the characters changed a lot.

“Gnomeo and Juliet” was about them gaining a relationship during their forbidden love for each other, whereas “Sherlock Gnomes” is more of a crime and mystery movie. The two movies are not only different but the characters change. Juliet focuses more on the garden than their relationship, and Gnomeo feels like he is being taken for granted. They also added a couple of characters as well, including Sherlock (voice by Johnny Depp) and Dr. Watson (Chiwetel Ejiofor).

In the beginning of the story, the garden gnomes are moved to a new garden in London. Gnomeo sees a change in personality with Juliet, so he tries to win her back. While he is chasing after her, the gnomes go missing. With the help of Sherlock Gnomes, they go on an exciting and emotional journey to get their friends and family back, and they face many difficulties along the way.

This film was an exciting movie with a great lesson learned — to appreciate the ones we love. We recommend it to kids ages 5 and up because it has humor for both kids and adults. Some of our favorite scenes were when Sherlock Gnomes found Moriarty’s clues to lead him to completing the case. We also liked it when Gnomeo and Juliet plant their special flower to represent their love. We liked that Sherlock learns his lesson not to take Watson for granted. We would rate this movie 4 smiles out of 5 because it was exciting, the characters were funny, and the animations looked so real. Overall, “Sherlock Gnomes” is a fantastic and exciting movie. We suggest that you see it.

After seeing the movie, we went back into Manhattan on Wednesday to meet with actors Emily Blunt and James McAvoy and talk to them about their roles in the film and also talk to them about their great movie careers.

Here is part of our interview with them:

Was it better working together in “Gnomeo & Juliet” or “Sherlock Gnomes”?

Emily: Neither! James is very difficult to work with. He is not altogether very nice. Actually, we only get to see each other when we do press junkets and the premieres because we record your voice separately. It is kind of low-maintenance. I sometimes hear your [to James] voice in my headset.

There were lots of scenes where you had to show a lot of emotions. Was it difficult to get into character for an animated film?

Emily: We are very prepared actors! We do warmups and all. It is a bit strange to do those emotional scenes in a booth with headphones on and doing it to nobody. I would say that is the challenge.

James: One of the things that I quite like about doing an animated films — like in a live-action movie, you do the scene, and if you want to do it again, you have to go back to the beginning and the crew all have to reset and it is a lot of time. In this, if you do it once and you say that wasn’t quite right but I know how to figure it out and get to the place emotionally that I need to get to, you can just go — I do it again, straight away. You can do it like 25 times, and it doesn’t cost anyone any money.

Do you see a connection between the movie and the real world?

James: Well, yeah. This movie to me — one of the things that we have to play in this film, apart from the adventure and looking for the missing gnomes, is looking for a way to make our relationship work. Suddenly that becomes a little more difficult in this film, and that happens in real life as well. That is something I can relate to.

Emily, does your character relate to you in real life, and what is your favorite type of flower?

Emily: What I like about Juliet is that she is really adventurous and fun and brave. She is probably more so than I would be. I would like to be more like Juliet. Favorite flower? I absolutely love pale pink roses.

If you weren’t an actor, what would you be?

Emily: I would like to be a chef. I love to cook, or I would like to flip houses. I would buy a wreck of house, renovate it and then sell it. And then buy another wreck of house, renovate it and then sell it. I just love to renovate.

James: I would be a park ranger. I would be like a Yogi Bear-type ranger in a big old national park, or a neonatal nurse.

If you could be any other character in the movie, who would you be?

Emily: You would be Mankini.

James: Yes, that would be my natural garb.

Emily: I probably want to be Sherlock because he is awesome and very bright and very strange.

Emily, in the movie, your character puts her work before her relationship. Have you ever done that?

Emily: You are basically hitting on the hideous juggle of having young children and having to work. I feel like I struggle with it all the time. My priority is definitely my kids. And John [husband and actor John Krasinski], of course.

James, would you ever date a woman like Juliet in real life?

James: I have a strange attraction to garden gnomes. I am into ceramic or porcelain women. I would! Definitely, 100 percent. She is dynamic, she is fun. She is passionate and committed. She is physically capable because she is like a ninja. She is cute and really attractive and likes to make fun of herself.

Emily, I have noticed that you are not on any social media. Why is that?

Emily: There is a personal reason. Partly it’s because I am untech and not very savvy. It is not an organic fit for me. The other thing is the mystique of being an actor is people are going to buy you in that role, and if I reveal everything day after day and then have a witty thing to say every day, which I don’t. I am also the type of person who might get overwhelmed by so many people knowing who I am. Even if people are saying nice things, I would be equally overwhelmed by the good and the bad. I prefer to stay in an unaware bubble. So it is all of those reasons combined, and I think it is a slippery slope to start social media.

James, do you actually like Kanye West?

James: Yes. Why do you ask that? Oh, yes, because of “Split.” I have this weird thing where I do a job, then I move on and then it is gone. I can’t remember a thing about it. You mean like these actors who did a play with me four years ago? I can’t remember it. Once I move on, I can’t remember anything about the job. But I do like Kanye.

Emily, we loved the movie “The Devil Wears Prada.” Do you like fashion that much?

Emily: As much as my character? No. I think the character in “The Devil Wears Prada,” she defines herself by her job and the clothes that she wears. So on days like today, I am someone who likes putting on a dress, but I am pretty much in sweatpants most of the time.

What is your favorite character role of all the movies you have been in?

Emily: I did love that “Devil Wears Prada” character. That was fun. I loved playing Mary Poppins, and I loved the “Edge of Tomorrow” character.

James: I played a really mean, gnarly, manipulative dude in a film called “Filth.”