Ever since I saw the trailer I wanted to see Gulliver's Travels. I love Jack Black. I love Amanda Peet. I love the story. Turning Gulliver's Travels into a 3D movie seemed like an excellent idea
at first.
The story begins in New York. Jack Black – Star Wars and Guitar Hero geek - has been working for ten years in the mailroom of a big publishing company. He's secretly in love with an editor for travel stories (Amanda Peet) and applies for a writing job just to impress her. He gets it eventually by stealing text from an article from the Time Out website. Soon he heads for the Bermudas for his try-out assignment, writing about a man who knows the secret of the Bermuda Triangle. Jack almost dies in a big storm and ends up on a beach surrounded by mini people. Yes, Jack has arrived in Lilliput Land where he will become the hero who saves the land from a nearby evil kingdom. No spoiler there.
Jack Black is the guy you love to love. And as a fan you really hope that Gulliver's Travels is as good as the trailer promises. Unfortunately, it isn't. Although Jack must use his dick to stop a catastrophe (like in the original book)and he gets a tiny Lilliputian right in his arse, this actually is a family friendly movie. Too bad, I think, because the story that is presented is too safe to be satisfactory entertaining and is almost without any suspense or surprises. The best part is the opening credits. Here we see famous scenes from Manhattan filmed with a special camera lens so it all resembles a miniature city. It's an almost poetic beginning that is in firm contrast with the rest of the story, that seems chaotic and rushed.
When Jack arrives in Lilliput Land he does all the things you expect him to do. He starts out as a prisoner. Becomes the hero. Falls out of grace and leaves the Lilliput island, only to return and be the hero one more time by entering a Wild Wild West like confrontation. Some of the fun scenes with the tiny Lilliputians really work. The table-soccer scene for instance, as seen in the trailer. And there's also a nice scene in a theater that includes some funny spoofs on famous 20th Century Fox movies like Empire Strikes Back and Titanic. In Lilliput Land Jack makes his own Times Square, complete with posters from famous movies and musicals. Real funny.
The problem with Gulliver's Travels is that all the elements are there. The advantages of being a giant. The love story. The scene with the boats on a string. But why is the story so unimaginatively predictable? Just when things become interesting, a different problem should be solved by our hero. The story goes to the left, then to the right and could therefor use more scenes that prepare you for all the exciting things that are about to happen. Nice example of this is when Jack gets banned from Lilliput island. He's moved away by boat and arrives in a land not filled with tiny people but with very well, you can do the maths. It all happens so sudden and his escape from this island goes even faster. No suspense here. And then the main love story. That Jack Black really fancies Amanda Peet, that I can understand. I also believe the fact that Amanda Peet thinks Jack Black is a real nice bloke. But that she's secretly in love with him as well mmm, that wasn't convincing at all.
True. Gulliver's Travels wasn't made to earn Oscars. And in the end it's a nice family movie for the upcoming holidays. But with a better script, better editing, a less moralistic ending and a more outrageous Jack Black this could have been big. Now it's just another blockbuster special effects comedy that you will almost have forgotten the moment you leave the cinema.
The story begins in New York. Jack Black – Star Wars and Guitar Hero geek - has been working for ten years in the mailroom of a big publishing company. He's secretly in love with an editor for travel stories (Amanda Peet) and applies for a writing job just to impress her. He gets it eventually by stealing text from an article from the Time Out website. Soon he heads for the Bermudas for his try-out assignment, writing about a man who knows the secret of the Bermuda Triangle. Jack almost dies in a big storm and ends up on a beach surrounded by mini people. Yes, Jack has arrived in Lilliput Land where he will become the hero who saves the land from a nearby evil kingdom. No spoiler there.
Jack Black is the guy you love to love. And as a fan you really hope that Gulliver's Travels is as good as the trailer promises. Unfortunately, it isn't. Although Jack must use his dick to stop a catastrophe (like in the original book)and he gets a tiny Lilliputian right in his arse, this actually is a family friendly movie. Too bad, I think, because the story that is presented is too safe to be satisfactory entertaining and is almost without any suspense or surprises. The best part is the opening credits. Here we see famous scenes from Manhattan filmed with a special camera lens so it all resembles a miniature city. It's an almost poetic beginning that is in firm contrast with the rest of the story, that seems chaotic and rushed.
When Jack arrives in Lilliput Land he does all the things you expect him to do. He starts out as a prisoner. Becomes the hero. Falls out of grace and leaves the Lilliput island, only to return and be the hero one more time by entering a Wild Wild West like confrontation. Some of the fun scenes with the tiny Lilliputians really work. The table-soccer scene for instance, as seen in the trailer. And there's also a nice scene in a theater that includes some funny spoofs on famous 20th Century Fox movies like Empire Strikes Back and Titanic. In Lilliput Land Jack makes his own Times Square, complete with posters from famous movies and musicals. Real funny.
The problem with Gulliver's Travels is that all the elements are there. The advantages of being a giant. The love story. The scene with the boats on a string. But why is the story so unimaginatively predictable? Just when things become interesting, a different problem should be solved by our hero. The story goes to the left, then to the right and could therefor use more scenes that prepare you for all the exciting things that are about to happen. Nice example of this is when Jack gets banned from Lilliput island. He's moved away by boat and arrives in a land not filled with tiny people but with very well, you can do the maths. It all happens so sudden and his escape from this island goes even faster. No suspense here. And then the main love story. That Jack Black really fancies Amanda Peet, that I can understand. I also believe the fact that Amanda Peet thinks Jack Black is a real nice bloke. But that she's secretly in love with him as well mmm, that wasn't convincing at all.
True. Gulliver's Travels wasn't made to earn Oscars. And in the end it's a nice family movie for the upcoming holidays. But with a better script, better editing, a less moralistic ending and a more outrageous Jack Black this could have been big. Now it's just another blockbuster special effects comedy that you will almost have forgotten the moment you leave the cinema.