Gulliver’s Travels is a kid’s movie. Not a kid’s movie that adults can watch and enjoy too…a kid’s movie. It does have some funny parts but you’d be laughing at potty jokes, physical humor, and Jack Black’s acting (love it or hate it). Basically, this is something only to watch for passing time…I wouldn’t suggest anyone to see it unless they were on a plane or trying to entertain kids in the backseat of a road trip. Starring Jack Black, Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Amanda Peet and Bill Connolly, it’s the old tale of Gulliver with some modern interpretation…but it’s pretty much the same old story.
Lemuel Gulliver is with the little people in the mail room of a big newspaper company, The New York Tribune. He talks big, but doesn’t back it up. As in this review, there’s a lot of foreshadowing in the movie referring to size…can you guess why!? As he stumbles into his five-year crush’s office to stumble over his words in an attempt to ask her out, he stumbles onto a dream job of a travel reporter. Before he knows it, he’s on a boat “not sale-ing” to the Bermuda Triangle. After falling asleep at the wheel, he encounters an inverted cyclone and wakes up on a beach covered by little Lilliputians. We’re not talking oompa loompas or lollipop kids, we’re talking really tiny little people.
The iconic shot of Gulliver
You know the story, he’s assumed to be from the rival country Blefuscu but then helps the people of Lilliput and becomes their giant friend. In this interpretation, Jack Black tells the modern stories of Star Wars, The Titanic, and Avatar to win over the hearts of the little people while putting himself into all of the stories making them believe he’s President Awesome of the Island of Manhattan with Vice President Yoda (This is the kind of humor you can look forward to). The movie gets extremely boring in the middle and you want to either walk out or close your eyes to let the time pass. There are a couple of highly predictable scenes like when Jack Black becomes a giant girl’s baby doll and his love interest, Darci (Amanda Peet) winds up on the beach just as Gulliver did in the beginning. At this point you think to yourself: “Really!? We have to go through this whole movie again!?” *sigh*
Crap, I'm trapped and have to watch this whole movie!?
Yup, Gulliver’s Travels in 3D. Why you ask? Well because it’s 2010, that’s why! There’s nothing amazing that sets it apart from anything else done in 3D lately. Actually, there’s a short film before the movie starring our favorite squirrel from Ice Age, Scrat, called “The World According to Scrat.” That 3D was pretty well done and really cool (granted it was completely CG). The short is actually very funny and educational to boot! You might want to leave the theater when the short finishes because it really was the best part of the movie.
You owe me!!!
I couldn’t understand why some of these actors were in the movie. The only thing I could figure was that this was a big studio movie and either someone was getting a favor from them or they’re going to get a favor in the future. Talent was pretty much wasted for this kid’s movie that isn’t even in the top ranks of kid’s movies. Gulliver’s Travels will make you smile and laugh a couple times but not enough to warrant sitting in the theater for 1 1/2 hours or paying $10 bucks to see it. Boosh.
Tags: Amanda Peet, Bill Connolly, Emily Blunt, Gulliver's Travels, Jack Black, Jason Segel
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
