“A FILM FOR EVERY SIZE CHILD”
Starring: Jack Black, Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Amanda Peet, and Chris O’Dowd
Directed by: Rob Letterman
MPAA Rating: PG for brief rude humor, mild language and action.
Running Time: 1hr 25min
Genre: Comedy, Adventure
Release Date: December 25, 2010
Distributed by: Twentieth Century Fox
By John Delia
What’s extra good about the 3D movie Gulliver’s Travels is that it contains almost no offensive material, so most families can bring their children without too much worry that they will get offended. Even though we have Jack Black as the lead character there really isn’t a lot of rude humor. If you have young children and they like adventure films with comedy, then Gulliver’s Travels should make them happy.
The main character, Lemuel Gulliver, a mailroom manager at a New York newspaper leads a happy-go-lucky life. Stuck, however, in a dead-end job Gulliver finds himself plagiarizing some writing samples in order to get an assignment from the travel editor for whom he has a crush. The assignment takes him to the Bahamas where he charters a boat to find out what it is like in the Bermuda Triangle. When a huge waterspout sucks up his boat, Gulliver ends up passed out on a beach in the strange land of Lilliput. When he wakes up the Lilliputians have him all tied up. Thus starts the unexpected adventure of the lowly mailroom clerk who becomes a hero.
Jack Black provides a fun character as the misfit Gulliver that has to defend the land of little people the size of his thumb. His undying kind of comedy that has amused audiences in such films as School of Rock and Kung Fu Panda continues in Jonathan Swifts funny story that kids have read over the years. Making his facial expressions do the acting, Black puts on a great show defending the Lilliputians from their long time enemies.
Cleaver direction by Ron Letterman (Shark Tale, Monsters vs. Aliens) makes the film fun to watch; especially youngsters who should enjoy this film the most. Adults may get into the action somewhat and therefore not get too bored sitting with their kids at a matinée. Letterman makes sure there is a lot of interaction between characters in most every scene using some excellent almost undetectable CGI to create a lot of little people.
The film is rated PG for brief rude humor, mild language and action, all in fun but still cautioned for the little kiddies.
FINAL ANALYSIS:Â A fun movie for youngsters and tweens. (3 of 5)
The film is preceded by the very funny adventure short film “SCRAT’S CONTINENTAL CRACK-UP†if you see Gulliver’s Travels in 3D.