Review of Gulliver's Travels (2010) by William V — 05 Aug 2013

Directed by Rob Letterman (Shark Tale (2004) and Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)), and loosely based on Jonathan Swift's 1726 novel, (by loosely, they've only adapted a quarter of the original book.

) This is a dumbed down version of the original book, but it does have some funny moments, but you get the nagging feeling that there is a longer cut somewhere which explains some of the plotholes that this film has.

It's not perfect, and it could have been better. Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black) works in the mailroom of a New York newspaper, he has a crush on journalist Darcy Silverman (Amanda Peet), and he convinces her he can do travel journals, so Darcy sends him to Bermuda, to cover ships that have gone missing in the Bermuda Triangle.

He travels into the area, and is sucked up in a waterspout, and he finds himself in the Kingdom of Lilliput, where Gulliver is a giant compared to the residents. Despite this, he manages to befriend prisoner Horatio (Jason Segel), save King Theodore (Billy Connolly) from a fire at the palace, which makes General Edward (Chris O'Dowd) very jealous indeed.

This film would have benefitted from a longer cut, and you get the feeling there was better material cut out. It's a shame, as Black is very likeable as Gulliver, but it's a shame they only adapted one part of the book, when they could have made a great film with all of it.