Thursday, January 06, 2011

‘Gulliver’: Gargantuan déjà vu

The contemporary retelling of the classic tale is a family-friendly comedy centering on modern-day loser Lemuel Gulliver (Jack Black), an unambitious and complacent mail room clerk. He plagiarizes travel articles to impress a long-admired journalist (Amanda Peet), and soon finds himself shipwrecked on a land of tiny, understandably frightened people.

The lost giant “beast” also regales them with stories taken from Hollywood blockbusters, convincing them that they’re his own adventures. This new take on the old tale is very formulaic and utterly silly. It has some talented actors in it, including Peet, Emily Blunt, and Catherine Tate, who play requisite females doing routinely silly, inconsequential things. Messages are transmitted, but seizing the day and changing for the better feel like colossal chores this time.

"Gulliver’s Travels” opens Saturday, January 8, in Metro Manila.

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