Gulliver's Travels

It's been a long time since I've had reason to laugh at Jack Black. Before you start talkin' to me about Tropic Thunder, he was by far the least interesting part of it. Mostly I find him to be agreeable only in measured doses, but the slapsticky comedian strikes a few funny chords in Gulliver's Travels, a mostly harmless trifle that has almost nothing  in common with Jonathan Swift's 18th century hero other than waking up in bondage. There weren't any giant, transforming robots back then were there? Didn't think so.


I'd argue that anyone with a name like Lemuel Gulliver is destined for failure, and having spent nearly a decade as the mailroom guy at a New York newspaper certainly qualifies. Gulliver's a cool guy. Everyone likes him, but he's a slacker with no ambition. Racking up a high score at Guitar Hero isn't going to get Gulliver what he ultimately wants: a date with Darcy(Amanda Peet), the hot travel editor. Plagiarizing his way into an assignment in the Bermuda Triangle, Gulliver's ship hits a tsunami and shipwrecks him on the teensy tiny shores of Lilliput.

After managing to break free from his bonds, Gulliver soon charms his way into the good graces of the Lilliputian royal court. The king(Billy Connelly) and his princess(Emily Blunt) believe Gulliver to be a great champion in his homeland, and Gulliver is more than happy to feed into that assumption. He makes fast friends with another outcast, the loyal Horatio(Jason Segel), who has an eye for the princess. Not everybody's buying what Gulliver's selling, however. The spiteful General Edward(Chris O'Dowd) thinks Gulliver isn't all he's cracked up to be, and he's more than a little pissed at the newcomer's instant celebrity. Cue the giant robots.

This is the type of role that fits Jack Black to a tee. Delightfully zany, giving him plenty of opportunity to poke fun at himself. Let's face it, Black doesn't come close to resembling a leading man in any way, shape, or form, and in Gulliver's Travels he gets to play that up to often very humorous effect. A scene where Gulliver tries to teach Horatio how to pick up a woman(the princess in this case) works only because nobody with a modicum of sense would ever listen to Jack Black wingman tips. Gulliver's impressing the Lilliputians by re imagining nearly every major theatrical work(Star Wars, Titanic, to name but a few) as chapters in his life are also hilarious. If only we had more time to see that stuff because it works so well. As long as the humor remains light hearted like this, Gulliver's Travels works like a charm. It's when it ventures into mediocre toilet humor that the film loses it's way, like when there's a huge fire and Gulliver uses his....*ahem*...natural gifts to put the flames out. I don't think anybody has any desire to see Jack Black's oversized arse, either, but we get just enough of that too.

A surpremely talented supporting cast, in particular Blunt and Segel, just seem to be having a good time with the big set pieces and blue screen hijinks. Although presented in 3D, you'd never know it seeing that it adds absolutely nothing. More Hollywood scammin' for dollars. Do yourself a favor check it out in 2D only.

Gulliver's Travels comes out on Christmas Day, so I know a lot of families are going to gather together and head out looking for a little mindless entertainment to laugh the night away to. While I can't go so far as to say this is a great movie, I can say it's an enjoyable one and much taller on comedy than one might expect. As an added bonus you'll get a preceding animated short featuring Skrat, the little rodent thing from the Ice Age movies. I laughed more during it than the last two Ice Age movies combined, so count that as another reason to sign yourself up for this voyage.