Underrated piece of art!
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Gulliver's Travels
RedSoxCoder — 20 years ago(March 12, 2006 05:51 PM)
I've had the chance to see this movie twice on tv without interruptions and both times everyone who watched it with me was amazed! The production sometimes appears a little low budget perhaps, but Danson is just keeping people at the edge of their seats! I guess this shows what kind of education Danson has had - he's certainly not your average comedy actor, although because of Cheers and Becker people might think so.
What really amazed me is how the movie builds up towards this last half hour in which everything makes sense.
In a way this reminds me of a similar movie, The Madness of Kind Richard, in which the main character is said to be insane too - but during the movie you realize that he is perhaps the most sane and wise person of all.
Anyway, I've enjoyed reading the original book in school - but I have to say that almost always only the first part has been animated, filmed, told or acted just because it appeals to children (the big guy among small people). This is so ridiculous.
This movie seems to be the first time ever that Swift's book has been filmed in a way that it captures the whole point of the story - and in a way which makes it still a relevant story to listen to.
Great stuff, one of my favorite movies of all time! 9/10 -
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Hancock_the_Superb — 19 years ago(January 19, 2007 03:19 PM)
We started watching it in English Lit. at school, but then the class ended. However, I liked what I saw of it so much that I took it home for my own viewing.
Danson was excellent - his shifting from the crazed Gulliver to the more rational, measured one towards the end is magnificent acting. And the supporting cast was a real treat - Mary Steenburgen, James and Edward Fox, Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Geraldine Chaplin, Kristin Scott Thomas, Warwick Davis, John Gielgud, Richard Wilson, Ned Beatty - who else could you ask for? The visuals were spectacular and the story flowed extremely well.
"You're takin' advantage of your cloth, Father!"
"That's what it's for." -
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Sunnydws — 15 years ago(September 18, 2010 01:48 AM)
I think it's borderline brilliant. There is some fine acting from everyone, but particularly Danson. The way he obsessively goes through the story is so convincing. I love the scene where he's just standing out in the rain, yelling at the horses, "Is that it then? Am I just another yahoo?" Or the part where he's struggling with withdrawal from the laudanum. Great stuffVery versatile performance.
And the writing is equally brilliant. The way the stories intertwine and how it leads up to the final act in the hospital's "court room". Truly excellent. I thought maybe if they had saved the revelation of the sheep for the very end, it might have made a more thrilling ending. For the majority of the film, the audience knows Gulliver is telling the truth because of his son's discovery of the sheep. If they had hidden that from the audience and had the boy only discovered the sheep by the end of the film, it would have made for a good debate as to whether or not he was crazy. Of course, this changes the intent of the original novel, but I loved how he seems so eccentric and obsessive that they think he's crazy. Great twist on the original story. -
TemporaryOne — 15 years ago(October 20, 2010 04:30 PM)
Agreed, just watched this again for the third time this year, the entire production, the acting (Ted Danson, brilliant; I never liked him, but I changed my mind after watching Gulliver's Travelers), cinematography, costumes, lighting, lavish and luscious set designs, editing, soundtrack, smooth special effects, the faithful adherence to the novella (with some brilliant improvement and redaction), the ingenuity of weaving the trial throughout his adventures, the little sheep, talking horses, Cubist dreamscapes, Portuguese castles, all of it, utterly meticulous, flawless, dazzling, exquisite.
10/10, and deserves a Criterion release.
