GULLIVER’S TRAVELS
An adolescent comedy best left at home for discerning adults.
Should You Watch It?
This modern version of Jonathan Swift’s story has a few positive ideas. It rebukes lying, encourages honesty about who you are, and builds toward a romantic ending that may move some viewers.
But the movie surrounds those messages with adolescent humor, many disconnected vignettes, painful silly violence, sexual innuendo, and liberal anti-war sentiment. Its central comic set piece involves Gulliver urinating on the castle, the king, and many others. The source review also says the audience at the screening did not seem to find the movie very funny.
The practical answer is simple: wait for home, and reserve it for discerning adults.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESGulliver is a goofy mailroom worker at a newspaper who has a crush on Darcy, the travel editor. Hoping to impress her, he plagiarizes travel stories and accepts an assignment to report on the Bermuda Triangle.
The assignment carries him into another dimension, where he lands among the tiny people of Lilliput. There he becomes involved in their conflict and must decide whether he will keep performing a larger-than-life version of himself or be honest about who he is.
Is It Any Good?
Two stars means the movie has occasional funny moments and a few positive ideas, but its weaknesses dominate. Jack Black’s comic routines sometimes work, yet the film feels designed mainly to showcase those routines.
The story is not very well plotted. It proceeds through many disconnected vignettes rather than building smoothly. The ending provides a fuzzy romantic payoff and brings a tear to the eye, but the source review says that ending only partly saves the movie.
The Worldview
Jonathan Swift used satire to expose the plight of the Irish under English occupation and to advance the true Christian faith against the watered-down religion of his day. He was also an Anglican priest who wrote prayers and theological works. Most of that purpose is lost here, as the story becomes a humanist love comedy centered on following your heart.
The film does rebuke lying and tells people to be honest about who they are. It also presents love between Gulliver and Darcy, along with a second romance between Horatio and Princess Mary. Yet the original story’s Christian value is stripped away, and the film’s moral vision is mixed with crude humor, romantic idealism, and liberal anti-war sentiment.
The movie’s central longing is to be loved and accepted. Scripture calls us to truthful living: “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor” (Ephesians 4:25).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Slightly Romantic worldview with strong humanist elements, one positive statement mixed with a lot of scatological offensive humor where nebbish finally gets the girl, stripping the original story of all Christian value, plus little girl dresses up tiny man as a girl, treating him like a doll; staccato repetition of a word that sounds like the “f” word, three uses of b-u-t-t, six obscenities (including five “a” words to make fun of pompous villain), and four uses of My God, plus groin kick, urinating on the castle, the king and many others, and wedgie with man exposing a little of his rear end; strong, somewhat slapstick violence such as giant man gets shot with cannonballs, kicked, fighting, people get caught in a fire and building falls around them, giant man whipped and treated like a beast, and little people pretend to be characters in a violent video game; some light innuendo and kissing at end, plus and man dresses up as a girl and man points to woman’s breasts; female cleavage; alcohol use; no smoking or drugs; and, lying and plagiarism but somewhat rebuked.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Gulliver lies and plagiarizes to impress someone. Why is honesty valuable even when dishonesty seems likely to get what we want?
Ephesians 4:25 · Proverbs 12:22The story asks people to be honest about who they are. How can truthfulness shape the way we treat ourselves and others?
Psalm 139:14 · Colossians 3:9–10The film includes anti-war sentiment. What does Scripture say about peace, and how is biblical peace different from simply avoiding conflict?
Matthew 5:9 · Romans 12:18The movie presents love as the answer to Gulliver’s longing. What can human love give us, and what can only God give us?
1 John 4:7–12 · Psalm 42:1–2The Final Word
This occasionally funny movie has positive messages about honesty, but its crude humor, silly violence, sexual innuendo, and weak plotting overwhelm them. For your family, WAIT FOR HOME — ADULTS ONLY. For better choices, see.
