The 3 Worlds of Gulliver

When one watches a Ray Harryhausen movie, one expects the special effects to vastly outshine the acting, script, and other elements of the production. But boy, is this one ever not an exception to the rule. The Dynamation is minimal, the “highlight” coming when Gulliver and his bride are attacked by a giant animated squirrel (which for some reason makes noises that sound like a broken vacuum cleaner). Most of the rest of the effects work is devoted to making our hero look either way bigger or way smaller than he is, according to the dictates of Swift’s story. Divorced from its context, the plot loses a lot of its social importance. Still, it’s entertaining in a 1960 special effects vehicle sort of way. Mildly amusing

Genre: Action

Subgenre: Fantasy

Date reviewed: 5/19/2007