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I was
expecting big things
from
Gulliver's Travels.
(Get it?!) I was
expecting it to be
an over-the-top
hilarious movie.
While it was a funny
light-hearted family
comedy it wasn’t
nearly as funny as I
thought it was going
to be. Most of that
had to do with the
writing of the film,
there are tons of
very dull moments
that you have to
bear through to get
to the really funny
ones.
Lemuel Gulliver
(Jack Black) works
in the mail room at
the New York Times.
He’s a bit of an
underachiever. He’s
a great guy who’s
funny around the
office, but he never
advances in his life
because he never
puts himself out
there. When he
finally gets the
nerve to ask out the
paper’s travel
editor Darcy
Silverman (Amanda
Pete), he backs out
at the last minute
and instead talks
himself into a
corner and gets a
writing assignment
on the Bermuda
Triangle. He sets
sail to the triangle
and before he knows
it he wakes up being
strapped down by
hundreds of little
people- people 1/100th
of his size. From
there Gulliver
becomes enamored
with the little
people and loves the
way he gets treated
by them. He develops
a great relationship
with the small-sized
humans and their
royal family. And
then he also
establishes a
friendship with
Horatio (Jason
Segel). Gulliver
gets himself into
trouble in the
little people’s
world by lying about
who he really is in
his own world and
eventually he has to
save the day from a
situation that he
created.
Jack
Black stars as
Lemuel Gulliver
here, and even
though he’s great
he’s not the Jack
Black he can be in
this movie. I don’t
know whether he
toned himself down
or they pushed him
back to be less of
himself but he isn’t
as good as he
usually is.
Don’t
get me wrong, when
he’s funny here,
he’s really funny.
But when the movie
wades through those
dull moments he’s
kind of uninspiring.
Likewise, the
normally very funny
Jason Segel is only
funny here sometimes
and isn’t as good
here as he's been in
some other movies.
One
thing that’s not
lacking with
Gulliver’s Travels
is the look of the
film. The New York
scenes aren’t great.
I’ll be honest
there, I’ve seen New
York look lots
better on film. But
what was great is
how they used and
implemented special
effects once
Gulliver crossed
over into the little
people’s dimension.
Everything there
looks extraordinary
and that’s even with
Jack Black towering
over it.
As
far as extras on
Gulliver’s Travels
goes there's not an
enormous amount of
extras but there's a
good amount. There's
an in character
'mystery' featurette
with Lemuel
Gulliver. There's
also several
interesting
making-of
featurettes. Also in
the extras there's a
very funny one-scene
gag reel and some
other featurettes
that were used to
promote the movie
while it was in
theatres.
Gulliver’s Travels
isn’t Jack Black’s
best movie but it
does the job on any
family night. It’s a
fun watch the first
time through and
maybe it won’t
always be at the top
of your list,
but
it will still be
great to watch every
so often.
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