GULLIVER'S TRAVELS

Tsk. Whyyyyyyyyy is this movie in 3D?! That was probably my chief complaint with this updated and somewhat sloppy retelling of the Jonathan Swift classic, followed closely by “why doesn’t Emily Blunt do more comedy?” and “why did Amanda Peet take this job?”

Jack Black stars as Lemeul Gulliver, a mail-room clerk for a New York newspaper, who’s happy living a life of mediocrity. But when his massive crush on the paper’s travel editor, Darcy (Peet), accidentally lands him on assignment in the Bermuda triangle, our hero is sucked into an ocean cyclone and spit out in the pint-sized world of Lilliput, where everyone is four inches tall and where he’s expected to step up to the proverbial plate.

Gulliver, who is inexplicably addressed by his last name by everyone and really could have been redubbed Gulliver Jones for the purpose of this film, is initially feared but quickly beloved as he comes to the aid of his tiny new friends. Peasant Horatio (Jason Segel) turns to him for advice on wooing Princess Mary (Blunt), the King (Billy Connolly) hopes he’ll help defend the nation against its enemies, and Gulliver begins spinning tales of his adventures back in the land of the large... all lifted from movies, TV shows and popular culture. Only stuffy, bitter General Edward (Chris O’Dowd) fails to grow fond of Lilliput’s behemoth new resident, and promptly sets out to thwart his every action.

Black mines very familiar territory as Gulliver – a guy who’s essentially a carbon copy of almost every other man-child character Jack Black has played before, right down to the Converse sneakers, T-shirts and shorts. But that’s fine, because he’s doing what he does best and it’s a schtick that works for him. It’s one I also actually enjoy. Blunt is terrific as the winsome princess with a perpetual fear of being kidnapped, and O’Dowd makes for a great comic foil.

Unfortunately for all involved, there’s not really much to the film itself. For starters, nothing about it needs to be in 3D, at all, and it would have been perfectly fine with just the two standard dimensions. But perhaps the 3D element was added in post as a bid to distract from the fact that the story is paper-thin, the jokes are uninspired and the ending smacks of the screenwriters collectively shrugging, giving up and typing “fade out.”

There are a few moments of wonderful, laugh-out-loud deadpanning on the part of Blunt and O’Dowd, and the film would have benefited from much more of that and much less of, say, the size jokes. And the entire movie comes to a horrible screeeeeching halt thanks to a song-and-dance number that’s dropped in just after the climax but sticks out like an achingly sore thumb from a completely different film. Why is it there? So we can watch Jack Black lip synch? AGAIN?

It’s all kind of a shame, since the potential for a hit comedy is there. It’s just never realized. As a result, despite being geared towards the under-12 set, Gulliver’s Travels likely won’t wow anyone, big or small.