Gnome Alone (2017) Poster

(2017)

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7/10
Good Animation movie to relax to
ashleighabsurd2 January 2019
This film is good to relax to and I feel has a more believable high school main character than a lot of movies. I thought this film was rather funny and had some really good action parts within it. Definitely a movie I would see again
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7/10
good kids movie
SnoopyStyle23 July 2019
Chloë (Becky G) moves into a new place with her nomadic mother Catherine (Tara Strong). The old house comes with an assortment of garden gnomes. Chloë finds a magical green crystal in a hidden attic room. She is befriended by nerdy neighbor boy Liam (Josh Peck). The realtor fails to tell them that the house is built on a trans-dimensional portal.

I do like the characters despite there are some frustrating aspects of Chloe. I do like the gnomes although the movie can do more with them growing stuff. I do like most of this movie although it's a little short. It's got the bright color animation. It's got the action adventure. It's got good character development. It's got most of it all although it could do with more. It's a good little kids movie.
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7/10
Good movie, But lacks - Kind of spoilers?
youngrya26 November 2018
The story is a good story. The cast was good for the roles they played. The animation art style was fantastic! The music was not that good. The dramatic and action scene are lacking in emotion.

This is the issue with this movie I watched it and all I can do is make a list about the movie. Do not get me wrong it is a cute movie. BUT the scenes that were dermatic and the scenes that are action packed did not spark the feeling that I was being pulled into the movie. And the reason is the lacking soundtrack. The music in this movie pull you out of the movie where the most dermatic parts are.

All in all 7/10 rating for me. I would watch this movie again, but probably not watch it again after my second time.
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My 4 & 6 year old loved it!
JessaKat1822 September 2018
My two kids loved this movie. It kept my attention as well. I liked the story, I thought it catered both to boys and girls. It is a little spooky but I don't think it's anything crazier than the monsters from Monsters INC.
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7/10
Actually good.
syarwanhamid4 January 2019
I know, this movie budget is not biggest than other studio, but actually good. Maybe some storyline is too short, is too general, but fun to watch.
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7/10
Pleasant but lacks confidence
j_walking15162 November 2019
It wasn't bad but it was great. It was an exactly acceptable children's movie. If they were more confident in their own writing we could have had something much more sentimental and meaningful which they clearly wanted to do but instead gave us a way too long and frankly, pretty boring montage. The message is okay but overall still pretty shallow. The animation is fine tho the backgrounds and details are sorely lacking. The characters are okay, no one super memorable. It's nice but everything from frame to script needed polished and some more care put into it
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2/10
Generally unexciting
lunalovitt20 October 2018
Warning: Spoilers
In terms of visuals, I liked this movie. It was an overall smooth animation style, and, hey, by comparison to what else is around it's pretty good. That being said it's about the only redeeming factor.

In terms of writing the characters are very one-dimensional. None are likable, and honestly I'm a little surprised at some of the choices made. Chloe is very cliche for a character who has "moved around all her life with no time anywhere to make new friends and yet finds a true friend at her latest home". (Granted every character is pretty cliche.) She's also pretty narcissistic and that doesn't entirely change. Also Liam is a conundrum. For a day and age when we are trying to teach everyone that "no means no" the writers chose to create the most annoying and pushy male character I've ever seen that we're supposed to root for. And despite his pushy behavior and inability to take "no" for an answer, he ends up getting what he wants, that being the girl. It's really weird.

Not very memorable in the end. Can't say I'd recommend it or watch it again.
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7/10
This was good
paindweller13 June 2020
There have been a lot worst cartoon fimls mae, it was enjoyable, sure could have been loads better yet the few funny parts and the overall watch was def alright.
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2/10
A stupid, highly annoying, and unoriginal film.
Animated_Antic20 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
For some reason, some animation studios think that garden gnomes make interesting movie characters. I don't know why they do, but they keep making movies on these things and have put them as the main focus. The truth is with garden gnomes is that they don't make interesting movie characters since they are essentially decorations you put on you lawn. There's really not much to go off of with these things. Most people may know about animated gnomes in "Gnomeo and Juliet" and its sequel "Sherlock Gnomes", but there's another animated movie focusing on garden gnomes and it's far worse than those two movies put together. It's called "Gnome Alone" and it's made by the studio that made "Happily N'ever After" and the director of "The Nut Job". If that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, you'd be right. Like "Duck Duck Goose", this was initially intended for theaters, but went straight to Netflix instead and I'm really glad I didn't see it in theaters. It may not be as horrendous as "Duck Duck Goose" was, but it still was really hard to get through.

A young girl named Chloe (Becky G) and her mom (Tara Strong) have moved into an old creepy house in a town called Tenderville (yes, really). When they arrive, Chloe finds weird garden gnomes positioned randomly around the house and she also finds a weird green crystal inside a secret door which she uses to make into a necklace. After she gives the necklace to a popular girl in the school named Brittany (Olivia Holt) in order to become her friend, Chloe soon discovers that the crystal called the Keystone was actually important to the house since the latter unleashes a portal to a world where round purple creatures which are always hungry called Troggs come through. It is also revealed that those weird garden gnomes are actually alive where one named Zook (George Lopez) tells her that the gnomes have been protecting the world by keeping the Troggs in their own dimension and they need the Keystone in order to set things right. Also entangled up in this battle is a nerd next door named Liam (Josh Peck) who has been trying to become friends with Chloe. It's now up to them to take down these creatures and save the world which would be interesting if I cared about this movie, and I don't.

This film really was annoying. I really struggled to sit through it in one sitting because I kept getting annoyed by it. The story was completely unoriginal as it's another movie where two kids save the world from danger with the help of unlikely companions. We've been there and done that so many times that I'm pretty annoyed by it. It's also wildly uncreative. There's barely a single thing original in it. The house they move in to looks creepy like usual, Chloe and Liam don't immediately become friends at first but then warm up, even the trait where Chloe wants to be liked by the popular girls is so old. This movie also has lots of film references as well. This movie loved to quote films like "Lord of the Rings" and "Aliens" for no reason except that they're popular movie quotes. It quickly got under my skin fast. The animation was also pretty bad. The computer animation looked like plastic and barely had any charm to it. The character designs looked pretty unoriginal and the garden gnomes came off as more ugly than they did cute. Speaking of characters, none of them were likable. Chloe was always too obsessed with her phone and came off as annoying for a protagonist and the garden gnomes were all terrible. Not one of them was likable as they were all stupid, mean, and unfunny and the less said about Brittany and her friends the better. Liam was probably the closest character that came off as likable. Then again, I do tend to like Josh Peck at times and him playing a nerd was kind of funny but that's really not saying a lot if anything at all. Also, if you're wondering why it's called "Gnome Alone", it's because Chloe is left alone at the house all day because her mom is out of town with work stuff though it might be because Tara Strong wanted very little to do with this movie. I really don't blame her.

"Gnome Alone" is just an annoying and stupid movie. The story was stupid and annoying as ever, the animation was bad and looked ugly, and most of the characters came off as bland and basic. There's really not much I can say for this movie except that you should avoid it. It doesn't do anything new or noteworthy and there is much better stuff to watch on Netflix than this. It's not worth eighty minutes of your life.
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6/10
Damsel saves world: rarer cgi animation curio
Bofsensai21 July 2018
Warning: Spoilers
Wanted to add another to the surprisingly few reviews here, as this would seem a sadly overlooked (little seen?) entry in the rapidily crowding CGI animation genre: that likely coming from the probably falling costs of producing such: but of which, can be easily seen in this Canadian sourced production very much in the shadow of contemporaries (Pixar and the likes etc.) e.g.particularly at the beginning with rather bland, clunky backgrounds and standard overlarge head with skinny limbs characters. Further, the story has holes and non-sequiturs in it that even its target young audience might be quizzing their elders on to explain 'how's that?', 'So, er, what happened there, then?'

Nevertheless,and despite the 'baddie Troggs' displaying almost copyright infringing character similarities to compatriot CGI animation Minions, plus Joe Dante's Gremlins, but especially the Stitch of Disney's much older 2D 'Lilo and Stitch' franchise, this eventually has some endearments. As those aforesaid 'Trogg's getting up to mischief (Check the toilet / roll scene) and the denouement boss (Daddy?) monster are some of the enjoyments to catch this one.

Which is despite that unfortunately, much (initially) seems to be delivered in a sort of half hearted way (perhaps funding / resources constraints?) e.g. as that final monster, having been set up nicely expectantly, seems to be despatched all too quickly and with a method that will have, I feel, even youngsters enquiring, 'So, where did that come from?', and in any case 'Why should that work, then?'! And for those youngsters (at heart, like me) might also come the perturbed enquiry to what is otherwise rather disturbing for a story of this age group target i.e. well, what happens to those Troggs, then? Is this film really advocating (death!) disintegratation of the cute critters? I would have preferreed some allusion to that they are sent back to their own world somehow, and in that youngsters might even find this depressing, since they are splattered (eliminated= killed!) into apparent oblivion! Yet beforehand, charactersied so cutely.

Then, to the (significant!) eponymous 'Gnomes' of the title, are rather underwritten, more or less presented with little individual character and certainly no (essential?) backstory as to how and even, well, why, they got there. (And the standard fart joke just seemed gratuitous, unnecessary - certainly, not funny ... come on, team ..)

But, what is enjoyably notable, are the human characterisations: from the popular girl's posse friends (eyes permanently down, fringed hair obscuring, glued to their mobile / cell phones), Mother, who in one scene is shown emoting in a way usually completely beyond the usual animated GGI fare, and what stood out for me to make this stand aside from all its more expensive flashy competitors, is the storyline arc of the heroine girl who saves the geek boy in distress - and in her doing, so, wins HER heart: nice modern role reversal for children to identify with that the girl can be the strong go-getter type - but also for the boys, that the boy can also still be the admired beta besotted helper - but still win the affections of the damsel. (Well, I identified with him!) One great scene has her authorititively, 'I know what I'm doing', literally 'listen to me' tweaking not one, but both of his ears to get him to follow her - female - plan. Encouragingly empowering! On that alone, youngsters (yes, even at heart!) - girls especially - should seek out this seemimngly obscure CGI animation curio.
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3/10
Confusing
bradybcfbrady31 December 2018
A confusing plot with a lot of mistakes that do not make sense. However the animation is good and there a couple of cheap giggles every once in a while but that does not make up for the horrible movie that was being produced.
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9/10
Give it a chance, kids loved it, very cute.
tootall-9107920 October 2018
I'm not sure why so many people are voting this so negatively. And honestly a lot of the reviews seem like the users didn't actually watch the movie. Let's go through the list of complaints from users... No spoilers.

  • animation/cgi = I thought it was perfect, cute and great and can even compete with some other big movies with this art style. Great colors, lines, borders, reflections, particles, hair... There's literally nothing to complain about the cgi/animation.


  • characters/back story/development = This is a relatively short movie. So cramming in the entire back story, characters and over all feel/direction of the movie can be tough. But I think it nailed it. Again, it's cute. The characters are all likeable and enjoyable. They all grow and develop. And for the person claiming them oozing the troggs is killing them? Did you even watch the movie? And there's some great jokes and the over all comedic feel and timing is pretty spot on!


  • music = great choices. My kids literally got up and danced with every song. They're 6 and 3.


Take this movie for what it is. A cute, funny, wholesome kids movie.
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7/10
for the little ones
kosmasp9 December 2020
Not just for them though ... there are some references and quotes (most famously in the title) that may make the big ones happy too (that's adults for you). But mostly this aims to please the kids. And it does quite a decent enough job. Nice story, really good voice acting and the animation isn't too shabby either.

It is not a masterpiece, it will not dethrone Pixar or anyone else. But it is a really good animated movie. Is that enough for you and/or any kids you want to watch this with? Then go ahead and make ... your day!
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1/10
HUH????
janerin-5068525 October 2018
The plot is confusing at best and horribly unstructured. Bad soundtrack, awful characters, little to no character development. Also, why gnomes? I have nothing else to say.
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6/10
Cute family film
Snootz15 November 2019
This is a cute, predictable "cookie cutter" family film that is fairly well done. Good animation, good voice acting. Somewhat weak ending; would have been better with a stronger story end.
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6/10
Starts lame, grows on you
sarahelizabeth-682587 January 2020
It starts out with essentially a different take on mean girls. New girl moves somewhere, meets popular kids, they tell her to stay away from the nerd she just met, she tries to appease them and make them her friends. Then the gnomes come in and it starts really slow for at least the first 30-45 minutes and it's kind of a bore to watch. After you get past the first half of the movie, everything livens up a bit and it's a lot more entertaining. It would probably be fun for a kid to watch because of the little monsters (Troggs), and the very simplistic language of the movie. Overall, if the beginning were a little less cliché and if they had even just made the movie a little shorter and cut out some of the first half, it would have been a lot better. I would watch again, but I would probably skip ahead to the middle area of the film.

Good themes include meeting friends for how they treat you rather than how "cool" they are and the importance of responsibility even when you don't realize the significance of a choice you made. Good for older kids around middle school age and relatable for middle schoolers, not as much for younger kids, but it could still be fun for the little ones to watch. Very clean. No nudity or sex at all other than the few things listed in the parent guide (worst thing was a kid sliding down a banister and hitting his crotch on the post at the end-no one even commented on it in the movie). Plenty of good parts, really great movie once you get past the beginning.
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4/10
Boring and chopped together
popcornandfizz31 October 2018
Visuals are inoffensive but don't have much weight. It's colorful and all, so maybe with a more fitting comedic style, it could've been better. This film has some slapstick, which is just kinda trashy because the characters move way too bouncy for that to work. It's like those live-action Smurfs movies, the animation just doesn't work for what they try to do with it. The character designs, especially those of the trogs, are lazy and kind of just dumb. They look like grapes with arms and faces.

All of the characters are boring or annoying. The protagonist, like that of Next Gen, is completely unlikable. The jokes are almost purely for a young audience, but there are better things kids can watch that are also on Netflix which families can enjoy because they have more to them. This movie feels like a worse version of The House with a Clock in Its Walls. Instead of having the roller coaster pacing of that, Gnome Alone just feels rushed. Not as awful as Next Gen, but not exactly good either. Maybe one of these Netflix Original animated movies will be good someday.
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6/10
Leave me Gnome Alone sometime
Kamurai257 June 2020
Decent watch, might watch it again, can recommend, moreso for younger audiences.

There are plenty of kid movies that work for adults too, and this probably in the lower tier of those.

The movie is filled with awful basic humor, lots of bullying for dramatization, and a huge message about being more than superficial, but it still comes out as a pretty decent story. A combination of a goofy but intriguing premise and solid writing structure allows the characters to grow, and there to be entertaining, believable action.

If you need a new mystical mystery movie, give this one a go.
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1/10
Do NOT let your impressionable children watch!
sarahferndouglas21 October 2018
This is one of the most sexist children's movies I have seen in the last 8 years. The main character, Chloe, is made to look like a sel-absorbed young girl. She ignores the people around her and gives nearly all of her attention to her phone. This script is full of out-dated tropes from writers and directors that are in their 50's and 60's and believe school bullies and cliques exist in the same way that they once did in their generation. The pretty girls are mean, the jock boys are dumb... and it's uttterly exhausting to watch. The main character doesn't learn to love herself for who she is, and even states that she thinks she needs to change who she is, become more main-stream, to fit in and become more like herself. To whomever believes telling our impressionable young daughters that you have to be a brunette or a blonde, and you can't rock pink hair and save the world: you disgust me.
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6/10
This is a fairly average addition to the animated genre that's still worth watching
kevin_robbins5 May 2023
Gnome Alone (2017) is a movie that my daughter and I recently watched together on Netflix. The storyline follows a family that moves into a new home. The daughter of the family discovers that the garden gnomes at her home are alive and in an everlasting battle against the "troggs." When she accidentally tilts the scale towards the troggs, she will need to help her new friends stop them and maybe save the world in the process.

This movie is directed by Peter Lepeniotis (The Nut Job) and stars Becky G (Power Rangers), Josh Peck (Drake & Josh), Tara Strong (Batman: The Killing Joke), David Koechner (Krampus) and George Lopez (Rio).

The animation for this was outstanding and very well done. The storyline was fairly straightforward, a bit cliche and predictable. The gnomes were awesome and had some fun lines; however, they weren't as entertaining as similar children's characters like the minions, Smurfs or trolls. The circumstances were fun, as were the action scenes. The main character were relatable and the movie unfolds well.

Overall, this is a fairly average addition to the animated genre that's still worth watching. I would score this a 5.5-6/10 and recommend seeing it once.
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2/10
Where are the Father's?
wesleyhenry-7645522 October 2018
All the shows like this always portray a woman raising a child alone. I am offended that the Father's are excluded and will not let my son's and daughters watch this type of film that tries to normalize a single parent raising a child. It is optimal for a child to have both parents. It's like we would rather promote divorced families than unified ones.
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9/10
If you have kids and enjoy CGI movies, then watch this
ilread69-10-28317328 October 2018
Fun family night movie, I think the negative reviews are from people who do not have kids, our family really enjoyed this.
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4/10
Not the worst Movie ever ...
jerry_farnsworth21 October 2018
... but definitely the worst musical Score. bleh !
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Ugly drawings and backward morals
ersbel6 February 2019
The drawings are ugly. The animation is wonderful for a 1992 movie. Luckily Pixar has shown the world animation can be something else. And this is obviously not a Pixar movie. The script is also flawed and of a far lesser quality than Pixar productions.

And what's with the morals? The woman that is not taking up her role as breeder and buys Chinese take away. The children that have to be exposed to the same constant bully students and incompetent teachers in order to magically grow "better", whatever that might mean.
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1/10
Horror movie for kids
bbk-alkhalifa10 March 2018
It's like a Horror movie for kids I daughter was scared most of the time I don't recommend it at all
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