Film review: Gulliver's Travels

Cinemimi[Tuesday January 11,2011]
SURE, it bears only the faintest of resemblances to the classic novel by Jonathan Swift.
Nevertheless, Gulliver's Travels is a faithful adaptation of what would transpire if Jack Black was washed up on an uncharted island full of Tom Thumb types.

He fools the little folk who live there - average height, 12cm - into thinking he wrote the screenplays for Star Wars, Titanic and Avatar. Which are then staged as live theatre.

He extinguishes a fire by taking a wee. Fights a giant robot. Geeks out on Guitar Hero. Signs up microscopic recruits for the Kiss army.

Oh, and while not wearing any beneath-the-waist garments whatsoever, Black accidentally sits on a microscopic gent listed only in the credits as "Butt-crack Man".

Yes, this Gulliver's Travels rolls about in its utter Jack Black-ness like a pig that hasn't seen decent mud in years. (For what it is worth, Black hasn't been seen near a decent comedy since his School Of Rock heyday.)

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Film review: Gulliver's Travels
The Daily Telegraph, 24 Dec 2010..End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar.
..Black flaps his jaws and arms wherever possible as Lemuel Gulliver, an aspiring travel writer who takes an assignment deep inside the Bermuda Triangle, mainly so he can impress a lady friend (Amanda Peet).

Like many a Gulliver before him, this one washes up on the shores of Lilliput, where he is famously trussed up by the locals until he wins them over.

Which brings us back to the aforementioned flames and the urine. And later, the late Butt-crack Man (may he rest in cheeks).

When it isn't blasting Black with whatever special-effects slapstick that first comes to mind - gotta justify the slug for the 3D ticket premium somehow - Gulliver's Travels sputters along as harmless enough escapism.

It's kind of like a fat and sweaty cousin of A Night At The Museum.