KERWIN MATHEWS makes a handsome but dull Gulliver in this somewhat slow moving, corny adaptation of Jonathan Swift's GULLIVER'S TRAVELS which might be better visited by watching the old Max Fleischer cartoon that came out during the year of SNOW WHITE.
Ray Harryhausen provides the special effects monsters, but it's strictly the sort of romp you might want your kids to watch before encouraging them to read the actual Swift story with all of its biting satire intact. With today's CGI effects so markedly superior, there's a datedness about the film (made in 1960) that gives it a "quaint" quality.
The story doesn't really take off until Gulliver is washed overboard at sea, landing among the little people as in the original tale. The sequence where he's tied up by the Lilliputians on the beach is remarkably well handled, as he finds himself the pawn of quarreling royalties. Yet, he manages to get them to release him from his bonds. He proves his worth to them and they think of him as their invincible weapon.
The story follows the familiar pattern of other "Gulliver" films, with the "giant" interacting with the little people and settling issues of morality and justice with occasional bits of sermonizing.
Should appeal to kids with its fascinating trick photography and handsome Technicolor trappings, enhanced by the delightful Bernard Herrmann score. But adults had better beware. They might find themselves losing interest after the first half-hour.
Ray Harryhausen provides the special effects monsters, but it's strictly the sort of romp you might want your kids to watch before encouraging them to read the actual Swift story with all of its biting satire intact. With today's CGI effects so markedly superior, there's a datedness about the film (made in 1960) that gives it a "quaint" quality.
The story doesn't really take off until Gulliver is washed overboard at sea, landing among the little people as in the original tale. The sequence where he's tied up by the Lilliputians on the beach is remarkably well handled, as he finds himself the pawn of quarreling royalties. Yet, he manages to get them to release him from his bonds. He proves his worth to them and they think of him as their invincible weapon.
The story follows the familiar pattern of other "Gulliver" films, with the "giant" interacting with the little people and settling issues of morality and justice with occasional bits of sermonizing.
Should appeal to kids with its fascinating trick photography and handsome Technicolor trappings, enhanced by the delightful Bernard Herrmann score. But adults had better beware. They might find themselves losing interest after the first half-hour.