tame, shallow and far from swift
3 July 2003
Frankly, I didn't even expect a serious treatment of the novel - I thought it would do to Swift what other movies were doing to Verne and Wells at the time. And I could have lived with that perfectly. Unfortunately, "The 3 Worlds of Gulliver" does not achieve this level of entertainment.

First of all, the actor playing Gulliver is a bore. Well, he probably would have gotten away with it hadn't his part been so badly written. The Gulliver character is not discovering anything in this movie - he is a patronizing and moralistic missionary man; basically just out there to explain the achievements of his 'modern' culture to the primitives. So, don't expect adventure, expect sermons.

Secondly, the jokes aren't funny. They are all about how stupid foreign cultures are and how much they need a lesson in democracy. The only really funny character is a young gothic girl who has a short appearance towards the end of the movie (and the actress is not even credited!).

Thirdly, the production values are poor. Ray Harryhausen worked on this - and it hardly shows. The cheesy special effects are OK with me, but the whole doesn't even look attractive in a nostalgic sort of way.

Check this out if you must, maybe your kids will like it. But if you have respect for your children, show them the Max Fleischer cartoon. It's ten times funnier and far less pretentious.
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