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Max Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"[[Broken Record|There's a giant on the beach!]]"''|[[Motor Mouth|Gabby]], the [[Butt Monkey|Town Crier]]}}
'''''Gulliver's Travels''''' is the second American animated feature ever, made by [[Fleischer Studios]] and released in [[The Golden Age of Animation|1939]]. The film is an ''[[In Name Only|extremely]]'' loose adaptation of the "Lilliput" voyage of [[Jonathan Swift]]'s 1726 [[Gulliver's Travels|classic]], keeping only the skeleton of Swift's story and virtually none of the harsh satire or topical allegory.
In an attempt by Paramount to have the film compete with Disney's then-largely successful ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White]]'', Swift's hard-edged story is made considerably [[Lighter and Fluffier]] by the Fleischers, and his rather unattractive and wholly commonplace protagonist is transformed into a sort of all-wise [[Mighty Whitey|Mighty Biggie]] teaching the "silly little people" of Lilliput and Blefuscu a [[Anvilicious|serious]] [[Aesop|lesson]] about getting along. (Then again, with [[World War II]] about to explode in Europe <ref>and having already exploded in China</ref>, perhaps a lesson in getting along was [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped|what the nations needed]].)
The animation is an interesting blend of the rubbery, organic West Coast animation (or in laymans terms, "cartoony") style associated with the shorts of the period with the more realistic style that had been pioneered by ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs]]'', which ''Gulliver'' was obviously meant to emulate. There are some extremely impressive sequences -- the binding of Gulliver by the little people is perhaps a stand-out -- and the backgrounds are sumptuous in color and detail. The plot is handled in a workmanlike fashion, though the characterization of the film seems lacking: Gulliver is a condescending know-it-all, Gabby a typical [[Small Annoying Creature]], and the Prince and Princess, whose separation is the mainspring of the action, are colorless and utterly forgettable ciphers. (It is with an effort that one remembers they are called "Glory" and "David.") The score by Victor Young and Ralph Rainger is pleasant if anodyne, and there are a number of [[Ear Worm|catchy songs]] by Al Neiburg, Winston Sharples, and Sammy Timberg, including "It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day" (which became something of an unofficial theme for the Fleischer Studios, rather as "Merrily We Roll Along" did for [[Warner Bros]]. cartoons) and the clever counter-point combination song, "Faithful Forever", formed from the two competing traditional marriage songs of Lilliput and Blefescu, and united at the end to symbolize the union of the happy couple and the now united kingdoms.
This film is in the [[Public Domain]] and can be [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nxPYA5zdiE viewed for free] on [[YouTube]] (It can also be seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=988iuXXMCvs&wide=1 here], though the part where Gabby first sings "All's Well", discovers Gulliver, and dashes back into town is cut out for some reason).
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** King Luna from the Casper short "Boo Moon" is an obvious one of King Bombo.
* [[Flat Character]]: Glory and David are barely more than animated plot devices. They don't even have an actual line of non-singing dialogue until just near the end of the film!
* [[Foe Yay]]: During the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe_7cwy3SJk "Forever"] song (a love song), the king reminisces about being with his former friend and fellow king.
* [[Follow the Leader]]: While Max Fleischer had the idea of making a feature length animated film in his head for a while, it wasn't until the unprecedented success of ''Snow White'' that Paramount gave the greenlight to such a project.
* [[Gentle Giant]]: Gulliver is nothing but gentle and compassionate to all of the Lilliputians.
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* [[Hyperspace Arsenal]]: Snitch carries an impressive number of weapons beneath his cloak.
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: When Little finally hears Gabby tell him about '''THE GIANT ON THE BEACCHHHHHH''' and promptly chastises him for not telling him earlier.
* [[The Jimmy Hart Version]]: "It's a Hap-Hap-Happy Day" is suspiciously similar to the ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White]]'' song "Whistle While You Work".
* [[Leitmotif]]: An instrumental version of "I Hear A Dream" for Gulliver.
* [[Lilliputians]]: Of course!
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* [[Rotoscoping]]: Used to animate Gulliver.
* [[Scenery Porn]]: Some of the background and layout work is very well done and almost compensates for the uneven animation.
* [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]]: King Little when he sees Gulliver.
{{quote|''"Call all the guards, the army, the navy, [[Men Are the Expendable Gender|women and children first]], i'll see ya later...."}}
* [[Shaming the Mob|Shaming The Nations]]: Gulliver in the films ending. See [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]].
* [[Silly Reason for War]]: One of many changes made from the original story is that instead of a holy war over which end of an egg should be broken, King Bombo declares war on King Little for ''not playing the song he wanted to play at Glory's wedding''. In theory the Fleischers could have kept a touch of the original novels [[Satire]] by at least pointing out how utterly contrived and ridiculous this is, but the film instead plays it like something that were supposed to be ''taking seriously''.
* [[Small Annoying Creature]]: Gabby. No bigger than a pin, has an obnoxiously shrill voice, and a personality as lovable as a mosquito, he has permanently etched the word '''"THERES A GIANT ON THE BEACH!"''' into the minds of many animation fans forever. Its certainly a surprise that he was popular enough to warrant getting his own [[Spin-Off]] series, short lived as it was.
* [[Smoking Is Cool]]: Gulliver with his pipe during the "I Hear A Dream" sequence.
* [[Spin-Off]]: The short-lived ''Gabby'' cartoons. Characters from this movie would also make appearances in the Fleischer short series "Animated Antics".
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