Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels has captivated audiences for centuries, and it’s no surprise that this classic tale has been adapted for the silver screen numerous times. My own introduction to this world was at the age of six, through the 1939 animated Gulliver’s Travels the movie by the Fleischer brothers. As Disney’s main competitor at the time, Fleischer Studios delivered the first full-length cartoon rivaling Disney’s efforts, and I recall being thoroughly entertained by its depiction of Gulliver’s adventures in Lilliput and Brobdingnag. However, it wasn’t until a decade later that I truly grasped the satirical depth of Swift’s work, realizing that this seemingly children’s story, penned by a clergyman, contained layers considered unsuitable for young minds.
Since then, I’ve explored various cinematic interpretations of Gulliver’s Travels. Among these, one adaptation stands out as truly remarkable: Sean Kenny’s theatrical production at Bernard Miles’s Mermaid theatre. Kenny, a tragically short-lived talent who passed away at 40 in 1973, co-wrote, co-directed, and designed this ambitious version. What set Kenny’s Gulliver’s Travels the movie adaptation apart was its comprehensive scope, encompassing all four books of Swift’s novel. This meant audiences were introduced not only to Lilliput but also to the floating island of Laputa, the land of sorcerers Glubbdubdrib, the rational Houyhnhnms, and the brutish Yahoos. The production even featured a creative sea sequence filmed in a pond on Hampstead Heath. Adding to its unique appeal, Mike d’Abo, a Cambridge-educated pop star, took on the role of Gulliver. While perhaps overshadowed by the original Oliver! and Kenny’s other set designs, his Gulliver remains a cherished memory of a visionary artist. Theatrical critic Ken Tynan once famously quipped about Kenny’s innovative designs, suggesting that his sets might become so immersive they would eventually eject the audience from the theatre.
In stark contrast to these noteworthy adaptations is Rob Letterman’s 2010 3-D Gulliver’s Travels the movie, a truly disappointing rendition. This version drastically reimagines Lemuel Gulliver, downgrading him from an 18th-century ship’s surgeon to a 21st-century mailroom clerk. Played by Jack Black, embodying his typical slacker persona, this Gulliver is stuck in the New York Herald‘s mailroom for a decade. Driven by sudden ambition, he plagiarizes travel articles from Time Out magazine, which somehow convinces his editor to send him to the Bermuda Triangle. There, he finds himself shipwrecked in a comically Ruritanian Lilliput, ruled by King Theodore (Billy Connolly) and Queen Isabelle (Catherine Tate). This royal court lacks any semblance of wit or genuine royal presence. In this setting, Gulliver, by virtue of his size, becomes a “big man” among the tiny Lilliputians.
However, the 2010 Gulliver’s Travels the movie offers little of substance. It includes a brief and uninspired visit to Brobdingnag, populated by a single giant child, and a battle scene with a treacherous general that awkwardly references Robocop and Iron Man. The film culminates in a bizarre rock’n’roll lesson imparted to the Lilliputians by Gulliver. Perhaps the only attempt at humor that lands is a throwaway line about a new mailroom employee born in 1990, prompting Gulliver to exclaim, “Nobody was born that late.” Ultimately, this modern Gulliver’s Travels the movie fails to capture the satire and intellectual depth of Swift’s original work, falling far short of the imaginative adaptations that came before it.
