This is definitely not the Gulliver’s Travels you may remember from secondary school. The basic story has been refashioned to suit the hyper-kinetic and manic energy and screen persona of its star Jack Black.
This is definitely not the Gulliver’s Travels you may remember from secondary school. Jonathan Swift’s 18th century novel about an adventurer who returns home with stories about the strange lands he visited gets a contemporary make over here. The basic story has been refashioned to suit the hyper-kinetic and manic energy and screen persona of its star Jack Black. Which means, basically, that the stinging social satire and powerful political allegory at the heart of Swift’s classic novel has been dispensed with, and replaced with lots of vacuous pop cultural references and lame slacker humour.
There have been numerous other adaptations of Swift’s novel, including the recent TV mini-series starring Ted Danson, and a couple of animated versions, but this film seems rather lame and laboured. Written by Joe Stillman (Shrek) and Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) this is a woeful comedy that lacks any real spark and invention. Filmmakers obviously still continue struggle to bring Swift’s concept to the screen.
As interpreted by Black, Lemuel Gulliver is a lowly mailroom clerk for a publishing company. Anxious to impress magazine editor Amanda Peet he bluffs his way into an assignment to write a story about the Bermuda Triangle. But after his boat gets trapped in a vortex he finds himself shipwrecked in the land of Lilliput, populated by little people. He is a giant who towers over the tiny people, but quickly shows that he has feet of clay. When he puts out a fire by urinating on it and vanquishes an attacking armada (the only two events actually drawn from Swift’s novel) he becomes something of a hero to the Lilliputians.
He also helps commoner Horatio (Jason Segel, from How I Met Your Mother, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) court the beautiful princess Mary (Emily Blunt). But Gulliver’s favoured status earns the wrath of petty and foppish General Edward (Chris O’Dowd, from The IT Crowd), the villain of the piece who plots to bring him down.
Most of the action is confined to the island of Lilliput, although there is a brief diversion to Brobdingnag, an island of giants where Gulliver is reduced to becoming a mere toy in an oversized doll’s house.
Director Rob Letterman is better known for his animated work with Shark Tale and Monsters Vs Aliens, and he seems less assured working in live action for the first time. The digital effects that create a giant Gulliver and enable him to interact with the “little people” may be effective at times, but the artifice is never wholly convincing. The film also comes in a 3D version, although the process adds little.
Black is credited as one of the producers here, and this reworking of Gulliver’s Travels ultimately seems little more than a self-indulgent vanity project. His performance is typically manic, and features many of his familiar and annoying mannerisms. Those who love Black’s whole “awesome” comic shtick may find this version of Gulliver’s Travels tolerable. Anyone else should stay well away!
