Official Synopsis:
Jack Black (Kung Fu Panda, School of Rock) brings his irreverent humor to this adventure-comedy based on the classic tale. To impress the pretty newspaper travel editor Darcy (Amanda Peet, 2012), an underachieving mailroom clerk named Gulliver (Black) takes a writing assignment traveling to Bermuda. When a shipwreck lands him on the fantastical island of Lilliput, he transforms into a giant — in size and ego! Gulliver’s tall tales and heroic deeds win the hearts of the tiny Lilliputians, but when he loses it all and puts his newfound friends in peril, Gulliver must find a way to undo the damage. Through it all, Gulliver may just learn that it’s how big you are on the inside that counts.
There’s two ways you can look at this film. The first is that Gulliver’s Travels is a modern day kid’s film. For the first hour my kids watched this they were absolutely glued to the television screen. Finding the Jack Black’s antics as the gentle giant hilarious, they were quite disappointed that bedtime came too quickly for them, as they didn’t get to finish the film. Particular laughing points included Gulliver falling down and a poor soldier getting ‘bum’ rushed (quite literally) and Gulliver relieving himself to put out a fire to save King Theodore’s life (played by the great Billy Connolly). Had they been able to stay up they most certainly would have found Gulliver’s torturous dollhouse stay a riot and possibly the major wedgie he delivers towards the end out of this world funny. With all this said, there is no doubt that Gulliver’s Travels will have the same effect on kids as Yogi Bear did. There’s stupid, ridiculous humor scattered throughout the movie with a nice moral at the end to make everything better. Younger kids (under 10) will eat this film up.
The second way you can look at this is regretfully as an adult. While I appreciate the cast put together for this revamped, very liberally taken classic I do believe that it is a bit of a mess as a whole. That’s not to say that this film doesn’t have it’s funny moments, which include pretty much everything Chris O’Dowd, playing the evil General Edward, involved (why the hell isn’t this guy doing more in Hollywood?), but it’s dependent solely on these funny moments to carry the film. You simply cannot have a series of moments that carry an entire story for a comedy; it never works out. For people not liking Jack Black as the classic Gulliver I have to say that you’re shortsighted on Black’s capability. I’ve seen the man in serious roles before and he can excel in them. The problem with Black is that he’s built this ‘wacky’ reputation in Hollywood, so writers feel the need to write on that level for him. When he dotes over Amanda Peet’s Darcy Silverman you can see how good Black can be. Regretfully, that doting doesn’t last forever and we’re left with Black doing the thing that Black does best right now in films; becoming the obnoxious wacky guy. For example, when fights O’Dowd for the first time in the film (when O’Dowd’s character is equipped to fight him), you just get something a bit childish that ends in a large wedgie. The scene should have been/could have been so more than that lowbrow comedy style. Another example of missed opportunities is the classic moment where Gulliver goes out to fight the enemy armada in the sea. The scene turns into a fat joke instead of a moral point about war. The writers/director really needed to give Black a chance on serious moment and not Tenacious D it up — not that there is anything wrong with Tenacious D.
Had there been a few more serious moments and a more cohesive bridge of a story that the comedic moments helped to support here and there, then this movie could have turned out different. The cast was certainly picked well (Jason Segel and Emily Blunt are at the top of their games — what a waste), the story was already laid out thanks to a classic tale, so there was little chance to ruin it. Regretfully, the filmmakers found a way and found a missed opportunity.
Kids will love this film, but adults will probably not.
With that said, the Blu-ray does look impressive. The sets, though CG’d most of the time, are gorgeous. Brightly colored skies and landscapes, mixed with very impressive blues (good guys) and reds (enemies). There’s not a lot to visually hate about this film, other than Black’s ass crack. There are no artifacts or grain to be found in this HD footage, which is nice. The audio is also mastered in 5.1 DTS-HD, which helps for the goofy song at the end (it’s Jack Black, you knew that had to be part of the contract). The presentation of the Blu-ray was very top notch .
As for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
●Gag Reel
●Deleted Scenes
○Old Hank
○Gulliver Meets Royals – Extended Version
○Defense System
○Royal Banquet – Extended Version
○Basketball
○King & Queen Practice Basketball and King Makes Breakfast
○Horatio and Princess on a Date
○Gulliver and Edward Duel in Gulliver’s House
●I Don’t Know (A Gulliver’s Tales) Exclusive Jack Black Piece
●Little and Large – Find out how film makers made Gulliver so BIG
●Jack Black Thinks Big – Creating foosball, basketball and Time Square in Lilliput
●Down Time – Fun Foosball Gulliver Style
●Gulliver’s Foosball Challenge
●War Song Dance
●Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character Jack Black and In Character Jason Segel
●Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character Jason Segel
●Life After Film School: Rob Letterman of Gulliver’s Travels
● BD Live Extras
○Exclusive: Jack & Jason’s Dance Class
○Blu-ray Highlight: Little and Large
○Theatrical Trailer
I like what Fox included with this Blu-ray set. I found most of the stuff very entertaining. I wish there was some commentary, though. I also wish to forget about the gag reel, which is probably the most disappointing gag reel I’ve seen ever (one scene). The rest is very entertaining, even the deleted scenes. Overall, it’s good stuff.
