I Am Number Four

Gnomeo & Juliet

James McAvoy and Emily Blunt voice the love-struck characters of Gnomeo and Juliet in this animated send-up of Shakespeare's classic work, only with (you guessed it) gnomes. The lovers are from opposing gardens, in which one group of gnomes wears blue hats, and the other wears red. The garden denizens compete in lawnmower races and despise each other until the title characters unite (without the original story's tragic ending). The family film also features new songs by Elton John. The DVD extras include deleted scenes, an alternate opening, and two alternate endings.

55%

I Am Number Four

In this action saga, Alex Pettyfer plays a teenage alien being hunted by an enemy who wants to wipe out his kind. The aliens are being eliminated according to the number they're assigned, and Pettyfer is next, so he's hiding in small-town Ohio to evade them. There, he's guided by an alien mentor (Timothy Olyphant) and falls for a human, played by Dianna Agron. It's not the deepest movie ever made, but the nonstop action makes for fun, mindless entertainment. The DVD features a blooper reel, deleted scenes, and a making-of featurette.

31%

Looks like audiences decided to pass on the Farrelly Brothers' Hall Pass at the box office. The film only took in $13.4 million this weekend, making way for Gnomeo & Juliet to steal the No. 1 spot. The animated family film has been in theaters for three weeks, but it brought in $14.2 million for first place; Hall Pass followed behind in second.

Last week's champ Unknown slipped to third with $12.4 million, while Just Go With It trailed behind with $11.1. That was just enough to squeak by I Am Number Four, which rounded out the top five with $11 million. The weekend's other newcomer, Drive Angry 3D, made a measly $5.1 million for the ninth spot. Perhaps audiences just aren't into Nicolas Cage.

Audiences wanted to unravel the mystery of Unknown over Presidents' Day weekend. The thriller, starring Liam Neeson and January Jones, topped the box office with $21.8 million, while I Am Number Four, another action-packed new release, trailed behind it in second place with $19.5 million.

Gnomeo and Juliet came in the third spot, as it did last weekend, with $19.4 million, beating out last week's box office champion, Just Go With It, which pulled in $18.2 million. Finally, fifth place was taken by Martin Lawrence's comedy Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son with $17 million. Surprisingly, it edged out Justin Bieber's documentary Never Say Never, which was so close to the top spot at the box office last weekend, but only charted in sixth place this week.

I Am Number Four is an action-packed film with a cast of gorgeous young actors that mixes sci-fi and teen romance. Alex Pettyfer stars as John Smith, an alien originally from Lorien who escaped the planet before its destruction. As one of nine Lorien refugees known as the Garde, each of the aliens is known by their number, and they can only be killed in sequence — and John is number four, hence the title.

Another, more creepy alien race called the Mogadorians seek to wipe out John's kind, tracking him and the other members of the Garde who are hiding on Earth. When a Garde member is killed by the Mogadorians, the remaining aliens receive a scar. John's only family is Lorien warrior Henri (Timothy Olyphant), who functions as John's father figure while guiding him away from harm. When John get his third scar, warning him that he's next in line to die, he and Henri pick up and move to small town Paradise, Ohio.

Though I Am Number Four gets excessive at times with nearly every element (special effects, stunts, romance), it's entertaining. And while the story is not always clear, you're never bored. To find out what else I thought of the movie, just read more