The Gnome-Mobile

The Gnome-Mobile_720p(480P)

source: The Gnome-Mobile

This is an enjoyable movie which has a good storytelling and entertaining structure. Especially, this is good for children. If you watch this seriously, may be you don't like it. Yes, there is no horror, no mystery, no thriller, but the plot is very straightforward and engaging. Although the genre is fantasy, the characters are believable. Also, the acts are good. The direction and the camera are employed to storytelling not for panache or something. Grandstanding is really one of the somber problems of modern movies. Altogether, this is a worth watching movie. Take it easy and enjoy. My score:7.6 out of 10

One of the most charming fantasies that Walt Disney ever produced was The Gnomemobile. Even seeing it at the age 20 I was rather pleased with this wonderful kid's film. And if you've imbibed in any spirits while viewing it, The Gnomemobile can be quite a trip if you get my drift. The creators of Mary Poppins almost duplicated their success with The Gnomemobile. Walter Brennan gets to play a dual role, a reprise of the business tycoon from his series, The Tycoon and a mini me version of himself as a leader of a tribe of gnomes. These little folks live deep in the forest that Brennan's lumber company keeps chopping down and depriving them of a home. I imagine if this had an Irish locale, the wee ones would speak with a brogue and be called leprechauns. Anyway Brennan the tycoon has a couple of more little ones now, his grandchildren played by Matthew Garber and Karen Dotrice the kids from Mary Poppins. They work on grandpa and he takes an interest in the plight of the gnomes. But to help them grandpa faces some considerable opposition, not the least of which that folks just don't believe in the wee folk. The Gnomemobile marks the farewell performance of Ed Wynn who was a delightful performer who had been in show business for over 60 years when he passed away. Wynn plays one of the gnomes and a rival of sorts to Brennan's mini me. The Shermans, Robert M. and Richard B. wrote the musical score for The Gnomemobile and while it doesn't provide any lasting songs like Mary Poppins, the score is serviceable enough for the film. It's as charming as it ever was, but what a gas it is if you're indulging.

Okay, maybe 'painful' is too strong a word; 'unpleasant' is more like it, I guess. That's my feeling about having seen this movie on my 12th birthday with a boyhood friend in 1967. I remember sitting with my friend in the back seat of my dad's car on the way home. I knew my buddy had disliked the movie as much as me. After a few minutes of silence, I said, "Well, that was kind of cool when the guy fell off the gutter...". My friend just looked at me as if to say, "Shut up. You know it sucked." It was probably my last outing with that friend. One year later, I saw 'Planet of the Apes'. Alone. A fonder memory of an exceptional movie.

Lumber czar, whose unfaithful staff is trying to sabotage him, takes a car trip with his two grandkids, who are certain they've spotted gnomes in the forest. Upton Sinclair's book becomes a sometimes-sticky sweet comedy from Walt Disney, one saddled with the company's usual ingredients: broad slapstick for the matinée crowds, mercenary corporate baddies, and an extended car chase. Walter Brennan, in a dual role, and Matthew Garber and Karen Dotrice (the two cute kids from "Mary Poppins") are lively, yet "The Gnome-Mobile" isn't particularly inventive. Too much screen-time is wasted on contrivances, such as a freak-show entrepreneur kidnapping two of the gnomes (a glinty-eyed villain who does everything but tie the gnomes to the railroad tracks). The enjoyable opening promises a lot more fun than what is delivered, and the screenplay goes for such easy laughs that even children may find their patience taxed. The finale is a big, effects-laden splash with marriage-crazed female gnomes going on a manhunt, but it is unable to redeem the film's overall feeling of fatigue. ** from ****

The Gnome-Mobile wasn't a perfect movie, but it was a pleasant, lively and enjoyable one for the family. I do think it is a little too short though, consequently while Sean McClory is suitably shady and enjoyable enough as the villain of the piece his character especially doesn't build up to as much as it could've been. Also, I have never been that receptive to the title song, it just seems bland and forgettable and the lyrics for me are quite uninspired. However, The Gnome-Mobile does have a very entertaining story, and some funny scripting. And it too benefits from some nice photography, scenery and costumes. The direction is good, the film goes at a cracking pace and the special effects are surprisingly reasonable. The main merit though of The Gnome-Mobile is the cast. Karen Dotrice and Matthew Garber are very appealing while Walter Brennan is simply wonderful in a dual role. Overall, an enjoyable film that doesn't quite make the grade but has a lot of things to make it watchable. 7/10 Bethany Cox

It's a little eye-rolling that this happy-go-lucky fantasy got released the same year as such groundbreaking movies as "The Graduate" and "Bonnie and Clyde". Of course, if you're looking for typical family stuff, then "The Gnome-Mobile" will be perfect for you. As for the cast, everyone knows who Walter Brennan was, and probably knows that Karen Dotrice, Matthew Garber and Ed Wynn all starred in "Mary Poppins". A cast member whom you might recognize but not be able to name is Richard Deacon. He played Cooley on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (you may remember Buddy's constant remarks about Cooley's baldness). What's surprising is that Walt Disney was willing to adapt a book by Upton Sinclair. Sinclair was best known for the pro-labor novel "The Jungle" (and Walt Disney was staunchly anti-labor) but also wrote "Oil!" (on which "There Will Be Blood" is based). Sinclair famously remarked "You can't make a man understand something when his income depends upon his not understanding it." Anyway, the movie is what I expected. The sight of the redwood forest reminds me of the line in Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land". PS: I once saw an image of a garden gnome designed like a famous linguist-political activist; it was called Gnome Chomsky.

Walter Brennan plays a dual role in this film; he's the millionaire who tries to help the gnomes, and he's also Knobby, the 945 year old gnome who is losing his interest in living because he doesn't believe there are any more gnomes in the world but him and his grandson, Jasper. Anything with Walter in it is bound to be good, and this film has a lot of excitement and chases in it. As well as a catchy title song that you'll be singing in your head for weeks. Great for kids and grown-ups.

I have seen this movie when i was little and me and my sister loved it. the other day when i was at our local department store i found it and me and my sister has watched it ever since. we are so happy that it has come out on DVD where we can watch it over again and with the subtitles we click onto the icon and sing along to it. It is also a type of movie where it gets you going by sining along to all the songs and keep your imagination about gnomes alive whenever you watch it. the children in the movie are so talented when i watched them in marypoppins and now this it make see how talent they both are and waltz Disney must of seen how good they worked together and ask the to play the two children Rodney and Elizabeth. And hopefully when i get married and have children of my own they will remind me of those two children and i am sure i will happily to watch it with them.