Gulliver's Travels (2010) Reviews

• Gosh, aren't we all being a little too serious in these reviews

  jools_692011-03-09

  Gulliver's Travels is fun, a fantasy, not taking itself seriously light comedy. You won't learn anything, you won't cry, you won't witness historic cinema in the making. You will spend an hour and a half watching an enjoyable family film that doesn't pretend to be anything more than a fun adaptation of an age old tale by Jonathan Swift. I marked the film 7 because I enjoyed watching it, isn't that enough? Must everything be critiqued so much that we lose enchanting family films that just cheer us up momentarily. Sometimes; Now this might upset the media studies students who seem to be taking over IMDb, sometimes I don't want to have to concentrate on plots and sub plots, sometimes I just want watch a film and escape for a bit, is that OK with you, must everything be Cannes fodder? If you want to have fun and watch a dumb romantic comedy watch Gulliver's Travels, if you're an over serious sneering sceptic... don't. It's that simple.

• A minor crime against cinema; a major crime against literature!

  barnabyrudge2011-01-04

  First things first: if you are watching Jack Black's version of Gulliver's Travels because you're a fan of the original book, you might want to skip it altogether. Gone is the literate and satirical edge that has kept the story in print for over two centuries. Instead we have a loud, brash, very "Hollywood" retelling in which the nearest we get to satire is when Black topples backwards and squishes a Lilliputian in his butt-crack. There are some very mildly amusing moments in this film, but overall it is a regrettable example of the direction major American studio releases seem to be heading. That is to say: over-marketed, self-satisfied, bland nonsense, made with business in mind and not the art of film-making itself. Mailroom slacker Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black) works in a huge Manhattan editorial office. He spends most of his time quoting movies, playing Guitar Hero, and wishing that gorgeous hotshot travel editor Darcy Siverman (Amanda Peet) will notice him. One day, Gulliver realises that he has spent the best part of ten years doing nothing with his life… so to impress Darcy he takes on a minor assignment investigating strange goings-on in the Bermuda Triangle. During the trip, Gulliver's boat is caught up in a strange oceanic vortex and flung into a strange other-worldly kingdom known as Lilliput. Here the inhabitants are no bigger than insects and Gulliver appears as a fearsome giant. Soon he befriends the King (Billy Connolly), the Queen (Catherine Tate), the Princess (Emily Blunt), and an honourable prisoner (Jason Segel). But a slimy and untrustworthy military man, General Edward (Chris O'Dowd), refuses to buy Gulliver's tall stories and plots to rid the land of this new giant once and for all…. The fact that Jack Black is merely playing Dewey Finn from School Of Rock, and transposing the character to another film, is just the beginning of this film's problems. The overall acting talent wasted here is enough to make a grown man cry. Connolly fails to raise a single smile as the Lilliputian king, while Blunt (whose career so far has been refreshingly sure-footed) is reduced to the level of a ditsy bimbo. This will do her career no favours whatsoever. Segel, Peet and especially O'Dowd are all equally guilty of frittering away their talents in moronic roles. In terms of finding positive things to say about the film, at least the special effects are pretty good, and there are infrequent amusing moments (mainly references to other films, or sprinklings of toilet humour). Overall, though, that's about as positive as I can be. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the concept of modernising Jonathan Swift's novel, but not if it's to be reduced to this level of cheap vulgarity and simple-minded storytelling.

• Jack Black's version of Gulliver's Travels isn't too bad if you have lowered expectations...

  tavm2011-01-03

  In my lifetime, I've seen a few previous adaptations of "Gulliver's Travels", 1) a series of short cartoons by Hanna-Barbera on the "Banana Splits" TV program, 2) the Max Fleischer animated feature from 1939, and 3) the NBC miniseries starring Ted Danson. And so, I've now seen this new movie starring Jack Black which, unlike the others I've just mentioned, initially takes place in modern day-New York City where the title character is a mail room deliverer who yearns to be a writer for the newspaper he works for but doesn't always put himself out there. Oh, and he also has a crush on the stunning editor (Amanda Peet) whose office he always passes through despite not always having mail for her. Anyway, when he finally bluffs his way through an assignment, Black's Gulliver uses a boat to go to the Bermuda Triangle where he finds himself shipwrecked to an island...Guess where he winds up? Okay, I didn't expect this movie to be faithful to the book at all especially judging from the previews so I wasn't too disappointed on that point. And I did find many scenes-especially those that parodied Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Titantic, and the rock group KISS-pretty funny. And Black, along with supporting players Emily Blunt, Jason Segel, and occasionally Ms. Peet provide their moments. But if this was your first time encountering Lemuel Gulliver, you'd definitely wonder what was so classic about the book he's in (assuming you even knew about it). Actually, I admit I only read about his adventures in Lilliput and Brobdingnag since the book I borrowed from my elementary school library was condensed to only those two adventures though like I said, I did see the Ted Danson miniseries that also had his other travels. So in summary, if you know what to expect from Jack Black, you probably won't be too disappointed. Others, beware...

• Well, certainly it didn't blow my mind, at all, but it is fun, nice family fun

  RainDogJr2011-01-03

  Saw this one in 3D. First thing you should know: there's no reason to pay the extra money for the 3D version as pretty much the coolest 3D stuff I saw that day (saw it last Saturday afternoon) was on the trailer of the new Transformers movie. Second thing you should know: I'm not familiar at all with the book or with any of the other movies. Maybe that's why I'm one of the few ones here in IMDb who gave more than 4 stars to this movie. Anyway, there's really nothing amazing going on here. The story is as predictable as you can imagine and well, Jack Black is yet again playing Jack Black. We all knew this, and frankly I don't think there's a person who can't tell how is this movie going to be like before seeing it. I knew, and went to see it anyways as it was pretty much *the* movie of 2010's Christmas. I mean, I'm a sucker for Jack Black movies and even though the trailer never really convinced me, I had to check it out. Maybe The School of Rock and the Tenacious D movie (big fan of both) were more than enough for the punk rock Jack Black but it seems is inevitable to have him "rocking". So here some references to Guitar Hero and KISS are present. Jack Black is put as a sucker for rock music and movies, Star Wars especially. That simple thing delivers the best moments of the movie: Gulliver making the Lilliputians act Stars Wars and Titanic and perform as KISS. It ain't pop culture references heaven but definitely delivers the goods (also some Avatar references were funny). Gulliver's Travels may not be Jack Black's funniest movie, but in the end it was just what I expected: a decent family entertainment that will be soon forgotten but that is enjoyable to watch.

• Farcical Send Up Of Jonathan Swift's Political Novel

  johnstonjames2011-06-10

  who really knows what jonathan Swift would have thought of this. some of it is done in the spirit of his original story and it even includes the shocking urination part of Swift's book and the anti-war message that Swift inferred. basically this is mostly a irreverent and silly send up of a serious political allegory. how can you even look at Jack Black standing around in unkempt cargo shorts, tennis shoes and a t-shirt and take any of this seriously? mostly this film was cute and had very little of Jack Black's trademark racy humor. this was sort of like 'school of rock' meets fairy tale Disney. certainly the modernized, irreverent adaptation that had little to do with the novel seemed typical Disney. probably the best thing about this is Black. that's good enough for me. Black is the reason why i watch his movies in the first place and i usually find him entertaining. i was one of those rare persons who found 'Year one' funny. it's a added plus here that the movie has good FX and production values. if there is any "real" message to be found here, besides the fact that JB is always cute, is the obvious one, inside every little guy is a great big giant of a man waiting to emerge. this movie is certainly dedicated to the "little guy" everywhere. i'm also sure the author Swift would also like us to remember one of the main themes of his original story, "WAR! WHAT IZ IT GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!".