Gulliver's Travels (2010 film)

Gulliver's Travels

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Rob Letterman
Produced by John Davis
Gregory Goodman
Screenplay by Joe Stillman
Nicholas Stoller
Based on Gulliver's Travels 
by Jonathan Swift
Starring Jack Black
Emily Blunt
Jason Segel
Amanda Peet
Chris O'Dowd
T. J. Miller
Catherine Tate
Billy Connolly
James Corden
Music by Henry Jackman
Cinematography David Tattersall
Edited by Dean Zimmermann
Alan Edward Bell
Production
company
Dune Entertainment
Davis Entertainment Company
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • December 25, 2010
Running time
 85 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $112 million[1]
Box office $237,382,724

Gulliver's Travels is a 2010 American 3D adventure fantasy comedy family film directed by Rob Letterman, produced by John Davis and Gregory Goodman, written by Joe Stillman and Nicholas Stoller and very loosely based on Part One of the 18th-century novel of the same name by Jonathan Swift, though the film takes place in modern day. It stars Jack Black, Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Amanda Peet, Billy Connolly, T. J. Miller, Chris O'Dowd, James Corden, and Catherine Tate[2] and is distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Plot

Deeply depressed at his dead-end job in the mail room of a New York City newspaper, Lemuel Gulliver decides to talk to journalist Darcy Silverman. He convinces her he could write a report about his (false) extensive world "travels" saying his dream is to become a writer. After suffering writer's block and thinking that Darcy will not want to hang out with a "guy from the mailroom", he plagiarises a report from other publications on the internet. The next day, Darcy, impressed by his writing, presents Gulliver with a new task – to travel to the Bermuda Triangle and write an article about the legends of ships mysteriously disappearing are not true.

Upon arrival in Bermuda, Gulliver rents a boat and travels into the triangle. After falling asleep at the helm of his ship, he's caught in a freak storm and the boat is overwhelmed by a waterspout. He washes up unconscious on the shore of Lilliput, where he is immediately confirmed as a "beast" by the town's tiny people. He is captured and imprisoned in a cave, citizens claiming him to be dangerous because of his huge size. Here, he meets another prisoner named Horatio who was jailed by General Edward because he loves Princess Mary of Lilliput, whereas Edward also wants her. After the island across from Lilliput, Blefuscu, infiltrates commandos to kidnap Princess Mary, Gulliver manages to break free of the plough-machine he is forced to work and then rescues the princess from being kidnapped. Gulliver also saves her father, King Theodore from a fire by urinating on it.

Gulliver is declared a hero by Lilliput's citizens and makes up a deal of lies saying he is the President of Manhattan, says Yoda is his Vice-President and a living legend in his homeland. Edward, however, becomes enraged due to the luxurious accommodations that have been built for him, and even being presented as an honorary general of the Lilliputian Army complete with uniform. When the townspeople find Gulliver's boat and his things, Gulliver gets angry voicemails from Darcy, saying she has to take his place and travel to Bermuda now, and also found out about his plagiarism and now hates him. The next day, chaos ensues as the Blefuscian Navy lay siege on the city when Edward shuts down its defense system as an act of revenge for Gulliver's treatment. Gulliver defeats the armada, invulnerable to the cannonballs being fired at him (although he receives numerous welts on his stomach). Embarrassed once more, and with Mary no longer wanting to do anything with him, Edward defects to the Blefuscians and brings with him blueprints of a robot coming from Gulliver's Guitar Hero III game manual. The Blefuscians secretly build the robot based on Gulliver's Guitar Hero III game manual, with Edward as the pilot.

The Blefuscians invade Liliput and the robot-wielding Edward makes Gulliver admit to the people that he is "just the guy from the mail-room" and nothing more. Edward banishes Gulliver on the shores of "the island where we dare not go" (Brobdingnag). There, he is snatched up by a "little" girl, (Glumdalclitch) who towers over Gulliver. She captures him easily by trapping him inside a glass cup. When Gulliver wakes up, he finds himself dressed up in a pink dress and imprisoned in the dollhouse of the giant girl, who subjects him to her amusement. She jams a baby bottle in his mouth, and flings him on the bed. She then bounces him on the bed until he belches loudly, makes him stick his feet up in the air and diapers him like a baby. In addition, she forces him to do a tea party with a bunch of other dolls. When Gulliver tries to object, she effortlessly picks up another doll and rips its head off, effectively silencing Gulliver, who is reminded of his helplessness in the "little" girl's mercy. Finally, after forcing him to kiss a male toy doll, she tucks him in for the night like a doll. Horatio, who has gone to find Gulliver after being spurned by Mary, reveals to Gulliver that Darcy has been imprisoned by the Blefuscians when she is lost in the Bermuda Triangle in the same manner as Gulliver. Gulliver narrowly escapes with him, using a parachute that he took from a dead U.S. Air Force pilot sitting in the dollhouse.

Once again accepting a duel from Edward, this time not only for Lilliput's freedom but for its fate as well – as Edward threatens to destroy it should Gulliver fail – Gulliver ultimately defeats him with the assistance of Horatio, who disables the machine's electrocuting weapon. Horatio is hailed a hero and gets King Theodore's permission to court the princess. Edward, reaching the point of insanity, threatens to kill the princess, but the princess, finally having enough of Edward, beats the traitor up in frustration. Gulliver then helps to make peace between the rival island-nations by reciting Edwin Starr's "War" and he, along with Darcy, return to New York on their repaired boat. The film ends with Gulliver, now a travel writer, taking Darcy to lunch while holding hands, after returning from another travel assignment.

Cast

Production

In a January 2010 interview on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Segel explained his character spends most of the film in Black's shirt pocket. The film features 7.1 surround audio in select theaters. The name of Liliput's rival country, Blefuscu, was also changed to Blefuscia.

Filming of the Lilliput royal palace was at Blenheim Palace.

Miniature 1:12 scale dolls' house furniture and accessories from Derbyshire firm The Dolls House Emporium were used to bring the movie alive with less need for special effects.[3]

Jonathan Swift, the original author of the novel that the film was loosely based on, is not mentioned during the credits, despite the titles mentioning that the film is not an original piece. (i.e. "Screenplay by..." instead of "Written by...")

Release

Marketing

The official trailer for the film was released on 3 of June 2010; and attached to Marmaduke a day after. The second trailer was released on November 5, 2010 and it is also attached with Megamind. As a prize on the television show Survivor: Nicaragua, four of its contestants were able to watch the film before its release.

Originally scheduled for release on June 4, 2010, it was pushed back to December 24, 2010 and later changed once again to December 22, 2010.[4] 20th Century Fox later announced on March 23, 2010 that the film would be converted to 3D.[5] On December 13, 20th Century Fox announced that it would again move the release date, this time to December 25, 2010.[6]

A fourth Ice Age short, Scrat's Continental Crack-up, was released with the film's theatrical release. The short is a parody of continental drift, and centers on a humorous alternative explanation for the creation of the continents (rather similar to the ending of the earlier Ice Age short, Gone Nutty, where the continents split up into their modern-day forms). It also hints at the next Ice Age film which was released in 2012.

Home media

Gulliver's Travels was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on April 19, 2011 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.[7][8]

Reception

Critical response

Gulliver's Travels has received generally negative reviews from critics; Rotten Tomatoes holds a score of 21%, based on 110 reviews, with the consensus "Though Jack Black is back doing what he does best, Gulliver's Travels largely fails to do any justice to its source material, relying instead on juvenile humor and special effects."[9] The average rating from critics is 3.9/10. In the Movie Guide books starting with the 2012 edition, Leonard Maltin gave it his signature BOMB rating. The Observer called it "truly dire"[10] while The Guardian gave it 2 out of 5 stars for being a "defanged version" of the novel.[11] New Jersey On-Line called it a "misguided remake of a classic" with "dreadful special effects",[12] Variety dubbed the film "bland"[13] and the New York Daily News awarded it 2.5 out of 5 stars, calling Black's performance "so lazy and familiar."[14]

The Hollywood Reporter commented that "any sense of fun slowly drains away as the movie insists on highlighting effects over character and story"[15] while Time Out gave it 2 out of 5 stars, commenting that the film "veers between the very mildly chucklesome and plain not funny."[16] The Christian Science Monitor called it "a movie of such stupendous uninspiration" that it was "monumentally dreadful"[17] and the San Francisco Chronicle called it "cute" but "sleep-inducing."[18] Slant Magazine rated the film 1.5 out of 4 stars[19] and Empire rated 2 out of 5 stars calling it "a low-grade comedy that'll have Jonathan Swift turning in his grave."[20] Other critics were less harsh, although still not praising of the film. Roger Ebert commented that knowing whom the film is for, and whom it is not for, might help viewers appreciate it. He awarded the film three out of four stars, saying "I want to tread carefully here, and not because I might step on a Lilliputian and squish him."[21]

Box office

Gulliver's Travels opened to a disastrous $6,307,691 for its opening weekend, landing at #8 and claiming the record for the lowest opening for a 3D feature released in over 2,000 theaters from My Soul to Take only to lose it to Drive Angry two months later. Even for a two-day opening, it was a disappointment compared to past Christmas two-day openings such as Fat Albert and Galaxy Quest.

The film was a Box office bomb in the United States, as it made only $42.6 million. However, it was a financial success overseas with over $194.6 million around the world to a grand total of $237.3 million worldwide.[22]

Awards

Black was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor, only to lose to Ashton Kutcher's performances in Killers and Valentine's Day.[23]

On the other hand, Black received a Kids Choice Award nomination for favorite Movie Actor, only to lose to Johnny Depp's performance in Alice in Wonderland.

References

  1. ↑ Gulliver's Travels tests Jack Black's appeal. Reuters. Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  2. ↑ Lee, Cara (2009-03-19). "Catherine Tate's Hollywood role alongside Jack Black". The Sun. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
  3. ↑ "Miniature props". The Derby Telegraph newspaper.
  4. ↑ Jack Black On Board for "Gulliver's Travels", The Guardian, November 6, 2008
  5. ↑ CJ Stewart (2010-03-23). "Fox Giving 'Narnia' and 'Gulliver's Travels' 3D Releases". TheCelebrityCafe.com. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
  6. ↑ Tom Ayers (2010-12-11). "'Gulliver's Travels' moves to Christmas". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
  7. ↑ "Gulliver’s Travels DVD and Blu-Ray Release Date – Latest Blu-Ray Release Dates" MovieCynics, March 14, 2011 Section: end of first paragraph, Accessed May 27, 2011.
  8. ↑ Gulliver's Travels VideoETA, "Section: On Video/DVD", Accessed May 27, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Gulliver's Travels (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  10. ↑ Gulliver's Travels – review | Film | The Observer. Guardian (2010-12-31). Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  11. ↑ Gulliver's Travels – review | Film. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  12. ↑ 'Gulliver's Travels' review: Jack Black stars in misguided remake of a classic. NJ.com. Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  13. ↑ Debruge, Peter. (2010-12-22) Variety Reviews – Gulliver's Travels – Film Reviews – New U.S. Release – Review by Peter Debruge. Variety.com. Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  14. ↑ 'Gulliver's Travels' review: Jack Black is no big deal in big screen adaptation. Nydailynews.com (2010-12-24). Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  15. ↑ Gulliver's Travels – Film Review. The Hollywood Reporter (2010-12-22). Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  16. ↑ Gulliver's Travels Review. Movie Reviews – Film – Time Out London. Timeout.com. Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  17. ↑ 'Gulliver's Travels' Review Revue – Speakeasy – WSJ. Blogs.wsj.com (2010-12-24). Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  18. ↑ Gulliver's Travels | Mobile movie news | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle. Chron.com. Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  19. ↑ Gulliver's Travels | Film Review. Slant Magazine (2010-12-22). Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  20. ↑ Review of Gulliver's Travels. Empireonline.com (2006-12-05). Retrieved on 2011-01-08.
  21. ↑ Roger Ebert (December 22, 2010). "Gulliver's Travels". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
  22. ↑ Gulliver's Travels at Box Office Mojo
  23. ↑ Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor: 2010

External links