Gulliver's Travels is a 2010 American fantasy comedy film directed by Rob Letterman and loosely based on the 18th-century

novel of the same name by Jonathan Swift, though the film takes place in the modern era. The film stars Jack Black, Emily Blunt, Jason Segel, Billy Connolly, Catherine Tate, Chris O'Dowd and Amanda Peet as Darcy Silverman[3] and is distributed by 20th Century Fox. Originally scheduled for release on June 4, 2010, it was pushed back to December 24, 2010 and later changed once again to December 22, 2010.[4] 20th Century Fox later announced on March 23, 2010 that the film would be converted to 3D.[5] On December 13, 20th Century Fox announced that it would again move the release date, this time to December 25, 2010.[6]

Contents
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1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Marketing 5 Reception o 5.1 Critical o 5.2 Awards o 5.3 Box office 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot
Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black) is the boss of newcomer Dan (T.J. Miller) in the mail room of a New York City newspaper, but soon, Dan is promoted to a boss. Deeply depressed at his deadend job, Gulliver decides to talk to journalist Darcy Silverman (Amanda Peet). He convinces her he could write a report about his (false) extensive world "travels" saying his dream is to become a writer. After suffering writer's block, he plagiarises a report from other publications on the Internet. The next day, Darcy, impressed by his writing, presents Gulliver with a new task to travel to the Bermuda Triangle and write an article confirming that the legend of ships mysteriously disappearing in the area being caused by extraterrestrials is not true. Upon arrival in Bermuda, Gulliver rents a boat and travels into the triangle. After falling asleep at the helm of his ship, he's caught in a freak storm and the boat is overwhelmed by a waterspout. He washes up unconscious on the shore of Lilliput, where he is immediately confirmed as a "beast" by the town's tiny people. He is captured and imprisoned in a cave, citizens claiming him to be dangerous because of his huge size. Here, he meets another prisoner named Horatio (Jason Segel) who was jailed by General Edward (Chris O'Dowd) because he fancies Princess Mary of Lilliput (Emily Blunt), whereas Edward wants her for himself. After the island across from Lilliput, Blefuscu, infiltrates commandos to kidnap Princess Mary, Gulliver manages to break

free of the plough-machine he is forced to work and then rescues the princess from being kidnapped. Gulliver also saves her father, King Benjamin (Billy Connolly) from a fire by urinating on it. Gulliver is declared a hero by Lilliput's citizens and makes up a deal of lies saying he is the President of the United States, says Yoda is his Vice-President and a living legend in his homeland. Edward, however, becomes enraged due to the luxurious accommodations that have been built for him, and even being presented as an honorary general of the Lilliputian Army complete with uniform. When the townspeople find Gulliver's boat and his things, Gulliver gets angry voice mail messages from Darcy, angrily saying she has to take his place and travel to Bermuda now, and also found out about his plagiarism and she no longer wishes to be friends with him. The next day, chaos ensues as the Blefuscian Navy lay siege on the city when Edward shuts down its defense system as an act of revenge for Gulliver's treatment. Gulliver defeats the armada, invulnerable to the cannonballs being fired at him (although he receives numerous welts on his stomach). Embarrassed once more, and with Mary no longer wanting to do anything with him, Edward defects to the Blefuscians and brings with him blueprints of a robot coming from one of Gulliver's sci-fi magazines. The Blefuscians secretly build the robot based on Gulliver's magazine, with Edward as the pilot. The Blefuscians invade Liliput and the robot-wielding Edward makes Gulliver admit to the people that he is "just the guy from the mail-room" and nothing more. Edward banishes Gulliver on the shores of Brobdingnag ("the island where we dare not go"), where he is captured by Glumdalclitch and forced to become her doll complete with wig and dress. Darcy is then imprisoned by the Lilliputians when she is lost in the Bermuda Triangle in the same manner as Gulliver. Horatio, who has gone to Brobdingnag after being spurned by Mary, reveals to Gulliver that Darcy is imprisoned. Gulliver narrowly escapes with him, using a parachute that he took from a dead U.S. Air Force pilot sitting in the dollhouse (a crashed F-104 Starfighter is seen in the girl's yard). Once again accepting a duel from Edward, Gulliver ultimately defeats him with the assistance of Horatio, who disables the machine's electrocuting weapon. Horatio is hailed a hero and gets King Benjamin's permission to court the princess. Edward, reaching the point of insanity, threatens to kill the princess, but the princess, finally having enough of Edward, beats him up in frustration. Gulliver then helps to make peace between the rival island-nations by reciting Edwin Starr's "War" and he, along with Darcy, return to New York on their repaired boat. It's revealed they later became a couple and successful fiction writers in New York, writing about their experiences on Lilliput.

[edit] Cast
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Jack Black as Lemuel Gulliver. Gulliver wishes to get a better job after Dan being promoted on his first day for his first assignment he goes to the Bermuda Triangle for an adventure but is ship-wrecked on a boat and ends up in Lilliput. Emily Blunt as Princess Mary, the Princess of Lilliput and love interest of Edward. She eventually falls in love with Horatio.

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Jason Segel as Horatio. He befriends Lemuel Gulliver, he has been in prison for hitting on Mary, and has a crush on her. Amanda Peet as Darcy Silverman, a writer where Lemuel Gulliver works. Silverman sends Gulliver to the Bermuda Triangle to get information on his adventure. T. J. Miller as Dan, a newcomer to where Lemuel Gulliver works. He becomes Gulliver's boss after getting promoted on his first day. Catherine Tate as Queen Isabelle, the queen of Lilliput. She cares for her husband, King Benjamin, and enjoys Gulliver. Billy Connolly as King Benjamin, the king and ruler of Lilliput. He initially calls Lemuel Gulliver "The Beast" for being so much larger than them, but later rewards Gulliver by having his people build a house and home entertainment center for the giant. James Corden as Jinks, King Benjamin's secretary. Chris O'Dowd as Edward, the villain of the film; after growing jealous of Lemuel Gulliver getting attention and being spurned by Mary, he betrays Lilliput to their rivals and kicks Gulliver out. Edward's fate in the end is left unknown, although he was likely imprisoned, executed, or banished to Brobdingnag, due to high treason to the Lilliput crown.

Filming in Aldershot, June 2009.

Filming in Aldershot, June 2009.

[edit] Production
In a January 2010 interview on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Segel explained his character spends most of the movie in Black's shirt pocket. The movie features 7.1 surround audio in select theaters. The name of Liliput's rival country, Blefuscu, was also changed to Blefuscia. Filming of the Lilliput royal palace was at Blenheim Palace.

[edit] Marketing
The official trailer for Gulliver's Travels was released on June 4, 2010 and attached to Marmaduke a day after. The second trailer was released on November 5, 2010 and it is also attached with Megamind. As a prize on the television show Survivor: Nicaragua, four of its contestants were able to watch the movie before its release. A fourth Ice Age short, Scrat's Continental Crack-up, was released with Gulliver's Travels. The short is a parody of continental drift, and centers on a humorous alternative explanation for the creation of the continents. It also hints at the next Ice Age movie due out in 2012.[7]

[edit] Reception
[edit] Critical
Gulliver's Travels has received generally negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a score of 21%, based on 100 reviews, with the consensus "Though Jack Black is back doing what he does best, Gulliver's Travels largely fails to do any justice to its source material, relying instead on juvenile humor and special effects."[8] The average rating from critics is 3.9/10. The Observer called it "truly dire" [9] while The Guardian gave it 2 out of 5 stars for a "defanged version" of the film.[10] New Jersey On-Line called it a "misguided remake of a classic" with "dreadful special effects",[11] Variety dubbed the film "bland"[12] and the New York Daily News awarded it 2.5 out of 5 stars, calling Black's performance "so lazy and familiar."[13] The Hollywood Reporter commented that "any sense of fun slowly drains away as the movie insists on highlighting effects over character and story"[14] while Time Out gave it 2 out of 5 stars, commenting that the film "veers between the very mildly chucklesome and plain not funny."[15] The Christian Science Monitor called it "a movie of such stupendous uninspiration" that it was "monumentally dreadful"[16] and the San Francisco Chronicle gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars, calling it "cute" but "sleep-inducing."[17] Slant Magazine rated the film 1.5 out of 4 stars[18] and Empire rated 2 out of 5 stars calling it "a low-grade comedy that'll have Jonathan Swift turning in his grave."[19] Other critics were less harsh, although still not praising of the film. Roger Ebert claimed that knowing who the film is for, and who it is not, might help viewers appreciate it. He awarded the

film three out of four stars, saying "I want to tread carefully here, and not because I might step on a Lilliputian and squish him."[20] Some performances were praised in the film, notably Chris O'Dowd, who was compared to John Cleese [21] and Nigel Hawthorne 'in creating sympathetic baddie Edward'.[22]

[edit] Awards
Jack Black's performance in the film earned him a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actor.

[edit] Box office

Gulliver's Travels opened to a disappointing $6,307,691 for its opening weekend, landing in eighth place and claiming the record for the lowest opening for a 3D feature released in over 2,000 theaters from My Soul to Take only to lose it to Drive Angry two months later. Even for a two-day opening, it was a disappointment compared to past Christmas two-day openings such as Fat Albert and Galaxy Quest. It has made $42,463,991, though it seems to be booming overseas with a current total of $165,635,391 and a grand total of $208,099,382.