Gulliver's Travels (2010 film)
Gulliver's Travels | |
---|---|
Directed by | Rob Letterman |
Screenplay by | |
Based on | Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | David Tattersall |
Edited by | |
Music by | Henry Jackman |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 85 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $112 million[1] |
Box office | $237.4 million[2] |
Gulliver's Travels is a 2010 American
The film was theatrically released on December 25, 2010, in the United States. Even though the film received generally negative reviews and failed at the box office in North America, it earned $237.4 million worldwide on a $112 million budget.
Plot
Depressed at his dead-end job in the mail room of a New York City newspaper, Lemuel Gulliver decides to impress journalist Darcy Silverman. 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 and thinking that Darcy will not want to hang out with a "guy from the mailroom", Gulliver plagiarises a report from other publications. The next day, Darcy, impressed by his writing, presents Gulliver with a new task – to travel to the Bermuda Triangle and write an article about the legends of ships mysteriously disappearing there.
Upon arriving in Bermuda, Gulliver rents a ship and travels into the triangle. After falling asleep at the helm, Gulliver is caught in a storm and the ship is overwhelmed by a waterspout. Gulliver washes up unconscious on the shore of Lilliput, where he is seen as a "beast" by the town's tiny people. After the citizens claim him to be dangerous because of his size, Gulliver is captured and imprisoned in a cave. There, he meets another prisoner named Horatio who was jailed by General Edward because he loves Princess Mary of Lilliput, despite Edward also pursuing her. After the island across from Lilliput, Blefuscia, orders some commandos to kidnap Princess Mary, Gulliver breaks free of the plough-machine he is forced to work and rescues the princess from being kidnapped. Gulliver also saves her father, King Theodore, from a fire by urinating on it.
Gulliver is declared a hero by Lilliput's citizens and lies that he is the President of Manhattan, says
The Blefuscians invade Lilliput and the robot-wielding Edward makes Gulliver admit to the people that he is "just the guy from the mail-room". Edward banishes Gulliver to the shores of "the island where we dare not go" (
Once again accepting a duel from Edward, Gulliver defeats him with the assistance of Horatio, who disables the machine's electrocuting weapon. Horatio is hailed a hero and gets King Theodore's permission to court the princess. Edward threatens to kill the princess, but she punches him in the face. When King Theodore sentences all Blefuscians to the gallows or to prepare for war, Gulliver helps to make peace between the rival island-nations by reciting
Cast
- Jack Black as Lemuel Gulliver, a mail-room worker who becomes a journalist after plagiarizing a report and winds up in Lilliput after encountering a storm
- Jason Segel as Horatio, a man from Lilliput who Gulliver befriends
- Emily Blunt as Princess Mary, the princess of Lilliput and King Theodore's daughter
- Amanda Peet as Darcy Silverman, a journalist and Gulliver's girlfriend
- Billy Connolly as King Theodore, the king of Lilliput and Mary's father
- Chris O'Dowd as General Edward Edwardian, the commander of the Lilliput Army who begins despising Gulliver
- T.J. Miller as Dan Quint
- James Corden as Jinks
- Catherine Tate as Queen Isabelle, the queen of Lilliput and Mary's mother
- Olly Alexander as Prince August, the prince of Lilliput and Mary's brother
Production
In a January 2010 interview on
Soundtrack
A soundtrack album of Henry Jackman's score was released by
- "Rock and Roll All Nite" – Performed by Kiss
- "Listen To Mama" – Performed by Walkerman
- "Rose's Theme" – Written by James Horner
- "The Imperial March" – Written by John Williams
- "Sweet Child o' Mine" – Performed by Guns N' Roses
- "Kiss" – Performed by Taylor Graves
- "War" – Written by Norman Whitfield (as Norman J. Whitfield) and Barrett Strong
- "(I Keep On) Rising Up" – Written and Performed by Mike Doughty
Release
Marketing
The official trailer for the film was released on June 3, 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 film before its release.
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.
The film was accompanied by an Ice Age short titled Scrat's Continental Crack-up.
Home media
Gulliver's Travels was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on April 19, 2011, by
Reception
Critical response
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 20% based on 120 reviews, with an average rating of 4.10/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "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."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 33 out of 100 based on reviews from 32 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[9] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.[10]
Conversely, Roger Ebert commented that knowing whom the film is for, and whom it is not for, might help viewers appreciate it. He awarded the film three out of four stars.[17]
Box office
Gulliver's Travels opened to $6.3 million for its opening weekend, landing at #8 in the US; this ranks it as the 84th worst opening for a film with a wide release tracked by Box Office Mojo. The film grossed $42.8 million in the US and Canada and $194.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $237.4 million against a production budget of $112 million.[2]
Awards
Jack Black received a nomination for favorite movie actor at the 2011 Kids' Choice Awards, losing to Johnny Depp.[citation needed]
Black was also nominated for a
See also
References
- ^ Gulliver's Travels tests Jack Black's appeal. Reuters. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
- ^ a b c "Gulliver's Travels". Box Office Mojo. December 25, 2010. Retrieved October 14, 2016.
- ^ a b "Gulliver’s Travels DVD and Blu-Ray Release Date – Latest Blu-Ray Release Dates" MovieCynics, March 14, 2011 Section: end of first paragraph. Retrieved May 27, 2011.
- ^ a b Gulliver's Travels Archived October 6, 2015, at the Wayback Machine VideoETA, "Section: On Video/DVD". Retrieved May 27, 2011.
- ^ "Miniature props". The Derby Telegraph newspaper.
- ^ a b "Gulliver's Travels (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
- ^ CJ Stewart (March 23, 2010). "Fox Giving 'Narnia' and 'Gulliver's Travels' 3D Releases". TheCelebrityCafe.com. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
- ^ Tom Ayers (December 11, 2010). "'Gulliver's Travels' moves to Christmas". Digital Spy. Retrieved December 23, 2010.
- ^ "Gulliver's Travels Reviews". Metacritic. November 25, 2016.
- ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Archived from the original on September 16, 2017.
- ^ Gulliver's Travels – Film Review. The Hollywood Reporter (December 22, 2010). Retrieved January 8, 2011.
- ^ "Gulliver's Travels Review. Movie Reviews – Film – Time Out London". Archived from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved December 26, 2010.. Timeout.com. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
- ^ 'Gulliver's Travels' Review Revue – Speakeasy – WSJ. Blogs.wsj.com (December 24, 2010). Retrieved January 8, 2011.
- ^ Gulliver's Travels | Mobile movie news | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle. Chron.com. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
- ^ Gulliver's Travels | Film Review. Slant Magazine (December 22, 2010). Retrieved January 8, 2011.
- ^ Review of Gulliver's Travels. Empireonline.com (December 5, 2006). Retrieved January 8, 2011.
- ^ Roger Ebert (December 22, 2010). "Gulliver's Travels". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved January 1, 2011.
- ^ Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor: 2010