I was convinced that I had seen Gulliver's Travels recently. Uncertain as to whether I really had or not, my mind roamed throughout some of the films I had watched over the last few months. Eventually I came to realise that I hadn't seen the film in a long time, actually. Instead thinking of "Around The World in 80 Days". I was quite thankful that I was wrong, given it meant I had just heavily reduced the amount of time that could've been spent scrolling through the categories of Disney+ in search of something to watch tonight. And, truthfully, kind of wanting to watch something with Jack Black in. An actor I feel is quite fun to watch even if he has somewhat disappeared from the screen with age. A bonus to checking out this film was that the runtime was short, just reaching into an hour and twenty-five minutes in length. Perfect for a late night viewing and easy to wind down to. Fortunately, I didn't watch the version in which Ted Danson is Gulliver.
For a film from 2010, Gulliver's Travels seems like the late Hollywood's rare films that were aimed at being family experiences and appealing to both the theatre ticket sales as well as DVD sales. Being a film with a decent budget but ultimately very tame and short. Holding a very simple narrative that doesn't require too much from any of its cast. This isn't a negative regarding the film, however. It is actually a positive to see a film like this that has elements of adventure and worldbuilding without feeling like it needs three hours to tell its story, plus a sequel. I say this with the Avatar franchise in mind which seems like a modern film franchise that doesn't really do anything special with the many hours it requires from its audience. Being short, Gulliver's Travels respects your time by only showing what is necessary, to which it packs its backs up for its travels back home.
Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels seems more of a film about the exploration of the self. Not really as a result of travelling and experiencing new locations, people, and cultures which slowly alter a person's personality and ways of thought as traditional travels would. Instead, Gulliver's Travels is a film more about the exploration of one's potential as a result of throwing yourself out there into the world despite your fears. Not letting yourself be controlled and left idle by your own insecurities; in Gulliver's case, he works in the mail room for a company and holds a crush on one of the company's workers. Not really going anywhere within his career nor holding the strength to make the move and potentially begin a relationship out of fear of rejection.
It is through the sudden acceptance of a challenge that Gulliver finds himself by his laptop late at night, plagiarising away in attempt to pull together some sort of impressive journalism in attempt to impress the woman he likes. Way out of his depth and thrown out of his comfort zone, he ends up submitting the work and sent on an adventure. Roaming around the sea in a boat, he's suddenly finding himself on land, tied down and surrounded by small people. Gulliver transported to another world full of tiny people that live in their own fantasy styled dimension, with a few medieval traditions. This is where the film's aspects of adventure come into play, as Gulliver finds himself in a new world with a fresh start, seeming like a God to this small people. Capable of making up and stories of his own world and personal life in attempt to impress and seem like the person he wants to be, rather than he really is. In a way this new world seems like a new start for Gulliver as he makes things up and performs various tasks with ease for the people due to his size.
The way the film displays the small people relies heavily on special effects and top-down perspectives. These special effects have Gulliver placed into the frame, or either completely out of it depending on which character is talking. Not every seen can have Gulliver in it due to blatant budget issues, as well as quality issues that would arise due to the lower budget green screen effect to begin with. This means the scenes with Gulliver in tend to look a bit odd, as it is clear the environment around him is fake. As another downside, it is also clear that other characters aren't directly talking to Gulliver, and instead we are just witnessing scenes shot of the actors just talking to nothing but generally looking in the direction Gulliver is implied to be in. With this it means some of the acting and line delivery seems a bit off, not quite fitting or sounding a bit out of place. This only comes from scenes being shot in a non-linear fashion when actors are in fact alone in their line delivery. Just reciting the script rather than engaging in an actual conversation with another person next to them.
It can be easy to overlook though. For a film from 2010 and created for the family it is acceptable. Again in regards to that relatively runtime where a massive budget and perfect special effects quality just isn't necessary. The film makes up for it by just being a fun adventure film, particularly with Jack Black's younger, more energetic nature. He definitely is the main appeal of the film despite it having a lot of famous British actors. Some I heavily disliked and rolled my eyes at when I first saw them, others I found surprising as I had managed to forget about them. The other actors still did a decent job despite the shooting style, so I don't really have any complaints there. I still enjoyed the film and it did feel like one that you wouldn't find being made these days. The way it tells a short story and has its fun, not being overly obnoxious with its humour nor lacking it. Though I think today's general blockbuster demographic wouldn't find it that entertaining, perhaps even boring. For me, however, it was enough.
Fortunately, I don't think this is a film that will see the reboot or remake treatment anytime soon. The Gulliver's Travels idea is a now very niche one, and it seems that this 2010 entry is in fact a remake as the name had entries from the decades prior, going back as far as the 30s. For most, the one featuring Jack Black is the most appealing. I'd argue that's likely the case, and you should watch this one if you feel like watching some younger Jack Black, it of course has his typical pop culture references and appearance. But don't expect too much of the narrative, it really is more of a film regarding the idea of throwing yourself out of your comfort zone in life rather than huge adventures and travels.
