For my post, I chose to watch the Jack Black interpretation of Gulliver’s Travels. Overall, I was very unimpressed with this movie. I have always preferred the books to the movies. This holds true when it comes to this version of Gulliver’s Travels. While the characters and very basic plot was the same, this movie was completely different than Jonathan Swift’s novel we read for class.
The movie starts off with Gulliver working in a mail room for a company trying to impress a girl. He tells her he is a journalist who would be willing to travel to the Bermuda Triangle and write a story about his experience. She allows him to go on behalf of her company, and the tale begins. This is very different from the novel as Gulliver, in the novel, is a trained surgeon who goes on these adventures for fun.
Like the book, there is a storm at sea which causes Gulliver to be shipwrecked. A difference in the movie version is Gulliver begins this journey alone. In the book, Gulliver goes to sea on a ship with multiple crew members. A similarity between the book and the movie is how Gulliver discovers the citizens of Lilliput. After being shipwrecked by the storm, Gulliver wakes up confused and realizes he is tied down. He then notices there are miniature sized humans all over his body and panics. I thought this scene was portrayed well in the movie. The way the movie shows this scene is exactly how I pictured it playing out in my head as I read the book.
The director of this movie needed to add certain elements to make it more appealing to a wider audience; however, I feel he should have stayed true to the book. I did not find the added humor funny, nor did I like the changes that were made to the story. The only new plotline which I enjoyed was the added romance between the princess of Lilliput and Horatio. I enjoyed Gulliver attempting to give Horatio relationship advice despite being unable to win the heart of his own crush. The main element added to the movie which I did not like was how Gulliver caused the Lilliputians to become a technologically advanced people. I understand it added humor to the movie, but it was not realistic. I also did not like the added battle between Gulliver and the General Edward character.
One element I thought the movie did well was portraying the size difference between Gulliver and the Lilliputians. They rarely showed the Lilliputians in the same frame along with Gulliver. When Gulliver spoke, the camera angle was an upshot of his face making him seem very tall. When the camera focused on the Lilliputians, the camera was above them causing their characters to appear small.
Overall, there were some funny parts which made this movie appealing to a broader audience. However, I will never watch this movie again. I much preferred reading the book and would not recommend this movie to anyone wanting to know the story of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.