The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

The new take on the Jonathan
Swift classic Gulliver’s Travels drifts
so far away from the source; it hardly qualifies as an adaptation. It’s more of
a goofy and light approach to the story, which is all good and fun; except that
it lacks the excitement needed to revitalise an old classic. Even if we put the
source material comparison aside, we’re still left with an embarrassingly lazy
film peppered with mild toilet humour.

Black is called in to play his usual chubby
and lovable slacker self, this time named Gulliver. Gulliver has been working
in the mail room of a news publication for the last ten years. So when a young
new employee confronts him about his dead-end career and non-existent love life,
Gulliver decides to hit two birds with one stone and apply for a writing
position with the beautiful editor that he secretly loves.

Lacking
any real writing skills, Gulliver simply copies travel articles from a website
and submits them as his own. Impressed by his writing, the editor hires him and sends him off
on a writing assignment to the Bermuda Triangle. Gulliver takes a boat all by
himself, and after being caught in a turbulent storm in the middle of the
ocean, he wakes up on an island populated by tiny people. The rest of the journey
sees him helping the tiny people fight their enemies, and involves him putting
off fires with a stream of his own urine.

Gulliver’s Travels is
strictly a one-Black-show projected in 3D so that viewers can fully enjoy the
contours of his behind in all its three-dimensional glory. Black does his usual
juvenile shtick; but what was once cool and edgy in School of Rock loses its appeal in this film. The jokes are cheap,
forced and – unlike Black’s belly – completely flat.

Gulliver’s Travels falls
short on action or any sort of visual spectacle. Save for the end that
features a giant’s battle best described as ‘Wild
Wild West meets Japanese Godzilla,’
the 3D element doesn’t add that much to the viewing experience. The best thing that
could be said about the new Gulliver’s
Travels is that it isn’t a bad film; just a dumb and boring one.