Gulliver’s Travels was a mini-series I remember from a few years ago starring Ted Danson as the eponymous traveller. I didn’t remember a great deal about it but I do remember having liked it, so when someone at work was selling the DVD for £4 the other day I jumped at the chance. Happily, my memory turns out to have been vindicated – this is a very fine version indeed of Jonathon Swift’s timeless allegorical tale.

Now, I’m reviewing the UK version, which features the entire seres (just over 3 hours) plus a “Making Of” featurette. The runtime listed on Epinions seems to be correct, but apparently (according to IMDB) there was a US version that lasted just one hour (in 2 episodes). If you buy this make sure it’s the full version not the hour-long one that surely has to miss out the majority of the story!

In fact, this is an extremely faithful adaptation of Swift’s book, including characters that most people forget were in the book in the first place, such as the sorcerer who brings back famous people from history to question them. (Actually, I had forgotten about him as well!) It is told in a series of flashbacks along with the events of what happens after Lemuel Gulliver (Dansen) arrives back after being away for 9 years, having been presumed lost at sea. At first this is a little annoying as you want to see his famous travels, but it is very well done and works well once you get used to it.

Of course, no-one believes Gulliver’s stories, not even his wife Mary (Mary Steenburgen – Dansen’s real-life wife), and least of all Dr Bates (James Fox), who now owns Gulliver’s old house, has taken over his old medical practices, and would by the new husband of his wife is she hadn’t kept hoping for his return over the years. The only one who does believe him is his son Tom (Thomas Sturridge, whose mother Phoebe Nicholls plays the Empress of Lilliput). Soon however Bates has Gulliver committed to a mental institution under the pretence of trying to help him… but all is not lost, for Tom finds something very interesting in his father’s medical bag that was with him during his travels…

In the meantime, while these dramas unfold we see more and more of Gulliver’s travels – from washing up on the shore of Lilliput, where he is a giant to the people there, to a land were the people are giants compared to him, a flying island where men of great learning don’t have the slightest bit of common sense, a college of great learning, the aforementioned sorcerer, a land of talking horses and bestial people… all the main features of Swift’s book are here, and the social commentary is in plain view and seems just as pertinent today as when it was written. Screenwriter Simon Moore (who was also responsible for “The 10th Kingdom” and “Dynotopia”) deserves much credit for his adaptation which is not only an excellent and sympathetic interpretation of the book but also manages to be equally accessible to both children and adults. Children, of course, won’t pick up on the political satire – but they won’t care about that!

The effects do at times look a little shaky in comparison to modern films but they do the job well enough, and overall the production values are very high. (This is somewhat tempered by the slightly grainy DVD transfer, which is presumably due to the whole 3+ hours being fitted onto a single DVD.) The cast is absolutely stellar, with far more star names than I remembered – we’ve got Edward Fox, Rovery Hardy, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Kirsten Scott Thomas, Omar Sharif, Richard Wilson, Edward Woodward, Peter O-Toule, and even Sir John Gielgud! As mentioned in the “Making Of” documentary, Director Charles Sturridge (yup, that’s Thomas’s dad) wanted actors who could distinguish themselves even if they only had a very short scene to work with. This is evidenced most impressively by Gielgud, who in little more than a minute gives an unforgettable performance as a scholar researching how to extract sunlight from cucumbers (I kid ye not…) All of the cast are excellent, and one largely unknown actor, Navin Chowdhry, is truly excellent as Prince Munodi, who all the inhabitants of the flying island view as stupid, but who is in fact the only man among them with any sense at all. (He is next due to be seen in “Red Mercury”, which sounds rather interesting – see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443619/ for more details.) Dansen proves here what a fine actor he is, not just the slow-witted barman from Cheers after all, and is ably assisted by his wife in her role as… erm… his wife. James Fox is effective as Dr Bates, who comes across as caring while hiding his true motives…

The “Making Of” documentary is (and this will shock those who know how much I generally despise DVD “Bonus” extras”) actually very good, well-paced and full of interesting factoids. Presented by Ted Dansen, it includes clips from the series and how the special effects were done (very interesting stuff and quite funny to see how what looks almost primitive now was considered “state of the art” just a decade ago), short interviews with the director and cast members, and including some interesting background information about Jonathon Swift himself. Apparently Sturridge had been offered the chance to make a movie version of Gulliver’s Travels on several previous occasions, but felt that he needed the length of a mini-series to properly do it justice. A photo library is also included on the DVD.

Overall, despite the poor image quality, I feel that I must give this 5 stars. It’s a brilliant interpretation of the book and a fine film (all right, mini-series) in its own right, and brilliant family entertainment that each member of the family can enjoy on a different level.

The DVD is presented in 15:9 aspect ratio and has subtitles for the Hard of Hearing (English only). Rated PG but basically suitable for all ages, some scary moments maybe for very young children.

Related Links

Gulliver’s Travels – the Book

Gulliver’s Travels – the movie version starring Richard Harris (not very authentic but still fun! An early example of live action combined with animation.)



See also my Top Ten Children's Movies

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day