Gulliver's Travels starring Jack Black, is the latest adaptation of the classic novel by Jonathan Swift. Of the different adaptations I have seen, this is the first I have seen with it starting in modern day. Gulliver has worked in the mail room for years and while he has a crush on the travel editor, in an attempt to impress her, he is sent by her to interview a guy that claims to know the truth behind the Bermuda Triangle. After encountering a storm and being blown off course, Gulliver wrecks and wakes up on a beach surrounded by people that are the size of action figures to him. The interesting aspect for this adaptation to me was the fact they went with the comedy genre. Gulliver's Travels while it was enjoyable I felt it just simply lacked a couple of things from being more then just an okay movie.
Jack Black stars as Lemuel Gulliver and while I was intrigued with this upon seeing the trailer, after seeing the movie I felt that while Black did make me laugh throughout I never bought into him as being Gulliver. While I enjoyed him in School of Rock and have enjoyed him in many of his other roles, I felt that he brought that same zany, rock and roll loving, man-child character that he has played so many times in the past that it is now a little redundant and infringing on boredom. This movie is truly featuring for Black as really everyone else is supporting in their roles. Amanda Peet in the role of Darcy Silverman, the travel editor that Gulliver has the crush on almost serves no purpose. Peet is an actress that I feel has been funny throughout many movies she has been in and I feel like she was underutilized and would have loved her to have either been more prominent in the movie or to have had more depth with her character. Emily Blunt in her role of Princess Mary did not work for me. Blunt is too talented of an actress to be reduced to the role of a pea-brained princess. I think for me, her playing more of an over the top regal type princess within Gulliver's Travels being a comedy would have worked better then her being a pea-brained princess. Blunt is a definite growing star and her talents ended up being wasted.
The story for Gulliver's Travels is really not what I expected, I was figuring it to be a movie that would be unexpected and not predictable. Of course the title itself does not work because it is really only this one adventure rather then multiple adventures. while it may have felt really disjointed had they gone with multiple adventures, it would have pushed Jack Black to expand the way he portrayed Gulliver with more depth and not as this character he has portrayed over and over. With the story and the way Jack Black was a hero to these little people this allowed for the funniest moments with him having their actors act out his stories of The Empire Strikes Back, Titanic and also paying tribute to KISS. Also it made me chuckle with the recreated Times Square complete with Liliput billboards.
The story though once Gulliver wakes up in Liliput it is the predictable hero storyline; he is bound as a prisoner, then viewed as a hero, only to then be disgraced and banished, but in the end he finds a way to get himself redeemed in the eyes of the people. Also the plot line dealing with Gulliver's love interest in Darcy. While it was easy to see Gulliver's interest in her and yes the fact that Darcy admits to having had a secret crush on Gulliver all this time I did not really believe it. While Black does have some lovable characteristics, I would have preferred to have seen more of an interaction behind why she had always had a crush on Gulliver as well.
Gulliver's Travels did not hit the mark for my own expectations. It did have those comedic moments that made me laugh especially with myself being a big Star Wars fan. Unfortunately, I felt Jack Black came off boring because he played the same character that he has in many of his movies that he does not bring any new depth. With this movie being an adaptation of Swift's classic novel I felt it lacked something and left me with a feeling of "meh" afterwards. I am giving Gulliver's Travels two and a quarter buckets of popcorn out of five. This is a movie that while far from great it is enjoyable enough that if you are fine with a movie that is a little predictable throughout, then you could enjoy it.
-The Movie Man
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