1939-40: Gulliver's Travels

Introduction

Gulliver's Travels is the second traditionally animated feature film, American animated feature film, and animated feature film adaptation of the novel of the same. This is also the fifth animated feature film in our 100 Years of Animation series. This also the first animated feature film in the project to use previous footage as a memory.

Synopsis

The film opens up with a live-action boat travelling through either the sky or fog as the credits roll by. 

After the credits roll, the scene becomes a painting. There is a paper by Lemuel Gulliver. It reads, "I, Lemuel Gulliver, give thee a faithful history of my most interesting adventure in the south sea. On the 5th day of November, 1699, having reached reached latitude 30 degrees-two minutes south - a storm of great fury suddenly," the rest is rolled up. The scene zooms out and a globe, a burning candle, and a feather pen are shown. lightning starts and the candle goes out. 

The scene then becomes traditionally animated. Waves are shown during a night storm. A ship is shown taking on water. There is a man holding on to a rope for the sail. He is carried out to sea. He grabs onto one of the boat's poles, but his grip is not strong enough to stay on in the rough seas. He tries swimming. He is eventually taken to an island, where he stands up and then falls onto the beach, tired. He goes to sleep.

Meanwhile, a man is walking, holding a lantern. He starts singing. Afterwards, he says that he doesn't like the song and that he would rather be in bed. He accidentally falls in a puddle. Later, he complains about how he doesn't want to be there. For some reason, he hears his echo and gets scared. He then continues. He trips on the man's hand, revealing that the lantern man is small. He looks around and then runs away. He then looks back and sees the man's arm. The latern man continues to run, this time much faster. He looks back and sees the man's body. He then runs away. He runs through a town. He runs into a castle, but is stopped by the guards, who are guarding the king's throne room. The guards tell the latern man that the king has vistors and that he is signing a wedding contract. The latern man says that there's a giant on the beach.

In the throne room, the king is at the contract and another king is there with his son. The king then signs the contract and the person holding it goes over to the other king. The other king takes the pen. The marriage contract is then shown. It reads, "King Little of Lilliput does this 5th day of November, 1699 give the hand of his daughter Princess Glory to Prince David..." It cuts to show the Prince David's father reading the contract and when he does, Princess Glory goes down to Prince David. David's father finishes what the contract says, "...son of Bombo, King of Blefuscu." He then signs the contract. It then cuts to the bottom of the contract to show both names of the kings. It then fades to show the two kings shaking hands. They look to see their children kissing. Two birds look and kiss too. King Bombo says that they did it. King Little agrees. A servant of King Little comes in and tells them that the arrangements are here. The latern man comes in and yells, "There's a giant on the beach!" He is thrown out by a guard. The servant is then joined by the baker and another servant. After them is several servants with trays that have stuff that is covered by cloth. The first thing is a bell made out of flowers with flowers surrounding it. King Bombo likes it. The servant explains what the flowers are. King Bombo sniffs the flowers. King Little claps his hands and the servant takes the flower arangement away. The next thing is the wedding ring. King Bombo inspects the ring and without saying a word, asks if it is 3 karats. King Little, also not saying anything says that it is actually 6 karats. King Bombo puts the ring down and the next thing arrives, which is the cake. King Bombo says that it is a masterpiece and asks if he can taste the cake. King Little allows King Bombo to do so. King Bombo does so and itentifies it as vanilla. 

With Prince David and Princess Glory, she is singing a song called, "Faithful". King Little starts to cry and says that he doesn't want to lose his daughter. King Bombo says that King Little is not losing a daughter, but gaining a son. King Bombo then starts to cry when he realizes it is his son that he is losing. Princess Glory finishes her song. King Bombo tells King Little that the song is lovely. King Little says that it will be played at the wedding. King Bombo says that the wedding song should be "Forever". King Little reminds King Bombo that Faithful is the song that is played at all Lilliputian weddings and that it is tradition. King Bombo agrees that the song is nice, but says that Forever should be the song used. They then continue to argue about the songs until King Bombo gets so angry that he declares war. He then walks out, angrily. King Little walks to his throne, sad. the lanter man, runs in yelling, "There's a giant on the beach." Prince David walks away.

With King Little, he is thinking about the situation and the latern man tries to tell King Little about the giant on the beach. With Glory, she starts to cry.

Outside the castle, a soldier and three spies are waiting for King Bombo. He comes down the steps and tells them that there will be war.

With Prince David, he sings Forever to Glory. During this song, King Bombo remembers the good times that he has had from that day with King Little. However, when his men look at him, he keeps his composure. After his song, David walks away. The soldier goes into a carriage and the three spies remain in Lilliput.

Back with King Little, he is still thinking about the situation. Eventually, the latern man called, "Gabby" gets the message across to King Little. He then tells Gabby to bring the giant to him.

The next 15 minutes are Gabby getting men, having them tie up the giant, and having them carry him to the castle.

When they get to the castle, Gabby gets King Little, who upon seeing the giant, runs back to his bedroom. Gabby then instructs the men to take stuff from the giant. Some of the things they take off him are his watch, telescope, and gun. It accidentally fires, waking up the giant. Everyone hides. King Little and Gabby look out onto the balcony. The giant breaks free of his restraints. the giant grabs Gabby, who tries to beg for his life. The giant then points out Gabby's small size. The giant tells Gabby that he will not hurt him. King Little tells the giant to put Gabby down. The giant asks who King Little is and he introduces himself. King Little then tells the archers to surround the giant. The giant puts Gabby down onto the balcony. King Little yells, "Ready! Aim!" Before he can say, "Fire!" King Bombo's troops attack. They are on boat. The giant gets up. This scares King Bombo's troops and they flee. Soon, the giant introduces himself as "Lemuel Gulliver". He adds that he is at King Little's service. King Little asks if Gulliver can fight. He says that he can take on anyone his size. King Little tells Gabby that Gulliver is on their side. King Little then tells the townspeople the same thing. They then celebrate. Soon, they are repairing his clothes, shaving him, cutting his hair, and shining his nails. 

Later that evening, in Blefuscu, King Bombo gives a letter to a pidgeon to send to his spies. The letter instructs the spies to get rid of Gulliver.

Meanwhile, there is a celebration on Lilliput. Elsewhere, the spies get the letter and try to think of ways to get rid of Gulliver. They eventually see the gun and decide to use that. After the celebration, Gulliver goes to a field, sings a bit, and goes to bed. 

The next morning, Gabby tells Gulliver of his dreams of being apart of the Navy. After talking to Gabby, he sees a fire, which was started by the spies after they noticed he was coming and quickly hid the gun and douced the light with straw and a cloth. Gulliver poors water on the fire and asks if anyone is in there. One of the spies almost gives them away, but the others pretend to be chickens. 

That evening, Princess Glory is sad and goes to a spot to rest. She hears Prince David and turns to see him. She walks towards him, but is stopped by Gabby who instructs guards to try to stop him. Gulliver stops the fighting by taking David and Glory a short distance away to explain the situation to him. After they do, Gulliver has an idea. He thinks that combining the two songs will make them work. 

Meanwhile with King Bombo, he gets a letter from the spies, which tells him that Gulliver is as good as dead. He sends a letter back that tells the spies that the army will attack at dawn. The pidgeon attempts to deliver it, but gets tired and takes a drink. He is spotted by Gabby, who grabs the letter and he warns the people that Bombo is attack at dawn. The army goes towards the beach. Gabby then uses the bell to call for Gulliver. He eventually comes and Gabby tells Gulliver what is happening. Gulliver then goes towards the beach to stop what is happening. 

Meanwhile, the pidgeon arrives at the spies' hideout without the letter. The spies want to know where the letter is. Eventually, Gabby is almost at the hideout and the pidgeon points to the voice. One of the spies detours Gabby and they capture him. The spies read the letter and get ready to shoot Gulliver.

Meanwhile, Gulliver arrives at the beach. He tells Little's army to stop and tries to tell Bombo's army the same, but they won't listen. He then makes them stop by taking their anchors and dragging them to the beach. While he is doing this, Prince David notices the gun and tries to stop it. He sucessfully stops it, but is crushed by rocks. This makes the kings stop and realize what they have done. Soon, it is revealed by Gulliver, Glory, and David that he is alive and that they have combined the songs. The war is over and the wedding happens.

Much later, both kings cristen a boat and Gulliver sails away. 

Characters

Lemuel Gulliver

He was a good protagonist. He seemed like a jolly fellow and was willing to help those he thought needed it.

King Little

He seemed to be a fairly good character, who was much more a coward than a fighter.

King Bombo

While he was kind of an antagonist, he was more justified than most villians. He definitely seemed to be more of a fighter than King Little was.

Spies

The spies definitely seemed like they were more meant to be comic relief than actual antagonists.

Prince David and Princess Glory

They seemed likey they were just your typical romantic couple. While they were a big part of the plot, they were not very active in it.

Animation

Much like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the character animation is inconsistant. Most of the tiny people and a pidgeon were cartoony, but Gulliver, David, Glory, and most other animals looked like their realistic counterparts. Well, actually, David and Glory look more like dolls than people.

Oddly, unlike most animation, the characters have five fingers instead of four.

The only notable effect is when it showed the previously used footage in a memory sequence, which I liked.  

Music

I quite liked the background music and the songs.

Similarities

The first similarity is with the New Gulliver, several aspects are similar between these two films.

The second similarity is with Prince David's outfit. His outfit is similar to Prince Charming's outfit from Disney's Cinderella.

The third similarity is with Romeo and Juliet. The two families coming together aspect as well as the balcony scene are both similar to that play.

The fourth similairy is with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. While the balcony scene is similar to Romeo and Juliet, it is also similar to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Conclusion

I quite liked this film and recommend it. Like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, if you don't like the inconsistant animation, then I suggest not watching this film.

1937-8: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Introduction

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the first American animated feature film, the first animated feature film by Walt Disney Productions, and the first traditionally animated film. It is adapted from the Grims' Fairy Tale. This movie was released around the 20th anniversary of animated feature films. Excluding the Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons, this movie was also the tenth animated feature film.

Synopsis

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs opens with a storybook with the title of the movie on it. It opens up and the first page is shown. It reads, "Once upon a time, there lived a lovely little Princess named Snow White. Her vain and wicked Stepmother the Queen feared that some day, Snow White's beauty would surpass her own. So she dressed the little Princess in rags and forced her to work as a Scullery Maid." The whole story could have been avoided if the Queen had just killed her before the story. Why did the Queen think that rags would change the beauty of someone? It's really stupid. Anyway, the page turns and it reads, "EACH DAY the vain Queen consulted her Magic Mirror. 'Magic Mirror on the Wall, Who is the fairest of them all?', Snow White was safe from the Queen jealousy."

The scene fades to show a castle. It then pan-fades to show a window on the castle. It then continues to pan fade until the Queen is shown walking towards her black mirror. She stops at the mirror and summons the slave in the mirror. Yes, slave. This is what she refers to him as. Once he, a face, appears, she statse her famously misquoted line, "Magic Mirror on the Wall, Who is the fairest of them all?" Unnessarly descriptively, the slave in the Magic Mirror is told that the fairest of them all is Snow White. The Queen is surpised at this result.

The scene then shows Snow White washing a step with some birds. She is humming. She then walks over to the well to get more water. She asks the birds if they want to hear a secret and they shake their heads to indicate, "yes". She then asks if they promise not to tell anyone and they shake their heads to indicate, "yes". She then tells the birds, while singing, that they are standing by a wishing well. She says that all they have to do is throw a wish into the well. She says that if you here it echoing, then the wish will soon come true. She says, "I'm wishing..." and an echo returns it. She continues "...for the one I love to find me..." and the echo returns with "to find me". She continues, "...today." The echo returns it. She continues, "I'm hoping..." The echo returns it. She continues, "...and I'm dreaming..." As she continues, a prince on a horse rides to a wall. She says, "...of the nice things..." the echo returns, "the nice things". She continues, "...he'll say." and the echo returns it. She then sings into the well and the echo returns it. As she is doing this, the prince climbs over the wall. She repeats the process until she reaches, "today". After she says it, the prince appears and sings it. Snow White is surprised to see him. He greets her. She says, "Oh." and starts running. He asks, "Did I frighten you?" As she is running he says, "Wait. Wait, please." She runs to a door and closes it. He says, "Don't run away." She looks out her window. He serenades her. As he does this, she walks out onto her balcony. It pans to show the Queen watching this, unhappily. She closes the curtains and it returns to the prince's serende. 

In the next scene, the Queen tells the Huntsman to take Snow White far into the forest, where she can pick some flowers. Here, he is to kill Snow White. This shocks the huntsman. She reminds the huntsman that he knows the penalty if he fails. She tells him that to ensure that he has actually killed her, he is to bring back her heart in a box.

In the next scene, Snow White is picking flowers and singing. She stops when she sees a baby bird, looking for its parents. While Snow White talks with the bird, the huntsman takes the opportunity to attempt to murder her. She screams, but he is unable to do it. He explains that the Queen is gone crazy because of her jealousy towards Snow White's beauty. He tells her to run away and she listens to him. She runs through a scary forest until she finds herself to frightened to move. She falls and cries on the ground. The light starts to shine in the spot, where she landed. Several animals look to see what's going on. After a whole scene involving Snow White getting acquainted with the animals, she is shown a small cottage. She looks to see if anyone is inside. There isn't anyone. She knocks on the door. No one answers. She opens the door and asks if anyone is home. There is still no answer. She then walks in. I think I should say something about this, but I don't think I need to. Anyway, she finds a small chair and sits in it. She notices six more chairs and thinks they are all for children. She notices how untidy and dirty everything is. She then believes that these seven children are orphans. She then cleans the house with the animals. She also sings a song. She does this because she believes this will let her stay if she cleans the house.

Meanwhile, in a mine, seven dwarves are mining for crystals, while singing. Eventually, it is quitting time. They do the shift ending responsibilities and walk home, singing the same song.

Back at the cottage, Snow White goes upstairs to see what's there. She sees seven beds all with the names of the "children" on them. She then says that she is feeling sleepy and falls asleep on Dopey, Sneezy, and Happy's beds. Soon, the dwarves arrive. They see that the light is lit at their house, which is the cottage. They enter the house to see that everything is clean and that the dishes are put away. They don't like this because they have gotten used to this. For some reason, the birds play tricks on the dwarves, making them think there's a monster. They send Dopey to investigate. He sees what he thinks is a monster, but is really just Snow White stretching. He then screams, in a voice that I don't think fits his character. Anyway, he returns downstair and Doc translates the movements of Dopey to say that there is a monster in the beds. They all go up to want to kill the monster, but when they get there, they find out that she is just a woman. She wakes up and they hide. The rest of the scene is then just them introducing themselves to her. Snow White remembers that she was cooking soup for the dwarves. She runs down to serve the dwarves. They run down to eat, but she stops them and tells them to wash their hands. The next scene is them doing that while singing. 

Meanwhile, back at the castle, the Queen asks who the fairest of them all is now. The slave in the Magic Mirror says that Snow White still is and after the Queen says that she has Snow White's heart in the box, the slave in the Magic Mirror says that the heart is a pig's heart. In his weird riddle-like way of conveying information, he reveals the location of Snow White. Anyway, the Queen is angry that Snow White is still alive. She goes down to her alchemy lab, where she gets a book to disguise herself. She makes a potion to turn her into an ugly peddler. She drinks the potion and is transformed into the ugly peddler. The Peddler then finds the perfect way to kill Snow White, which is a poison apple, which will send her into Sleeping Death.

Back at the cottage, the Dwarves and Snow White have fun and dance and sing around. At the end of the fun, Snow White sings a song about how she will be happy when her prince comes to save her. After she is done, it is 11:00 PM, which is bedtime. She tells them to go off to bed. Doc says that Snow White should sleep there and they will sleep downstairs. This then happens even though only three of them would actually need to sleep downstairs.

Back with the Peddler, she is putting the apple into the potion. She then takes it out and soon after, the potion seeps into the apple, making it pure red. She then checks to see if there is any way to break the spell. She sees that it can only be broken by love's first kiss, which is not to be confused with love's true kiss from Sleeping Beauty. The Peddler says that there is no way of that happening because the Dwarves will bury her. She leaves her alchemy lab with a basket of apples, cackling. She goes down to a boat and starts rowing away from the castle. She then stops when she reaches land and starts walking towards the cottage.

The next day, it is time for the Dwarves to go to work. Snow White says good-bye to each of the Dwarves by kissing them on the forehead. Grumpy warns her not to let anyone into the house. Later, she makes a gooseberry pie while singing. The Peddler arrives at the house. She asks what Snow White is doing and she says making gooseberry pies. The Peddler says that what men want is apple pies. She then offers Snow White an apple. She says they look delicous and the Peddler tells her to taste an apple. The birds see vultures nearby and realize the Peddler is the Queen. They start attacking her, but Snow White tells them to stop. The Peddler says that her heart is hurting and that she needs to be brought inside for some rest and water. Snow White does so. The animals then run to the mine and start dragging them towards the cottage. The dwarves think the animals have gone crazy.

Back at the cottage, the Peddler says that becuase Snow White has been so good to her, the Peddler will share a secret. She says that the apple is actually a magic apple and that if Snow White bites into it, her wishes will come true. 

Back at the mine, Sleepy believes the animals are acting this way because the Queen is attacking Snow White. The other Dwarves agree and start running towards their cottage.

Back at the cottage, the Peddler gives Snow White the apple and tells her to make a wish. She starts to make her wish, but it is cut with showing the race back to the cottage. It cuts back to the cottage and she finishes her wish. The Peddler tells Snow White to take a bite. She does so and is "killed". The Peddler walks out of the house as it starts to rain. She sees the Dwarves and runs. For some reason, the Dwarves assume the Peddler is the Queen and chase after her. The Peddler climbs up some rocks until she reaches a cliff. The Dwarves follow after her. The Peddler tries to stop them will a large rock, but the cliff is struck by lightning, causing her to fall and the Dwarves to be morally good or at least prevented them from having to make the moral choice between if they are going to kill her or not. The rock also falls on the Queen to ensure that she is dead.

Back at the cottage, the Dwarves mourn the death of Snow White, the princess they met less than a day before.

Text appears in front of changing seasons. It explains that the Dwarves could not bury her becuase of her beauty, so they put her in a glass and gold coffin. They also stayed by her side. Meanwhile, the Prince, who had searched for Snow White was told of her.

The scene then shows the Dwarves aproach the coffin and give her flowers. They then kneel. The prince arrives and walks over to her. He then kisses her, seemingly out of respect. He too kneels. However, to his and the Dwarves surprise, Snow White wakes up. The prince then carries her to the hourse and they ride into the distance, stopping to see the Prince's castle in the distance.

The scene then shows the last page of the book with the classic line, "...and they lived happily ever after." The book then closes.

Characters

Snow White

While Snow White is not the best protagonist, she is nowhere near the level of awful that Prince Achmed, from The Aventures of Prince Achmed, is. She is not the smartest person and is gullible, but she is definitely a sweet and kind person. However, I noticed that she is kind of bossy.

The Seven Dwarves

One of the weirdest things of this movie is that the title calls them, "Dwarfs" instead of the correct thing, which is "Dwarves".

Anyway, the Dwarves are not that complicated. They seem to keep their trait pretty consistantly. Although, Grumpy did sort of have a character arch in the film, where he started out as disliking Snow White and then by the time the mourning scene came around, he cried the strongest.

Queen/Peddler

While the Queen is not the best mother, she does actually pay attention to her step-daughter. She knows that Snow White likes apples and that she will help and old woman. 

In regards to her intellegence, in her Queen form, she seems to be more more stupid than in her Peddler form. The Peddler found out if there is an antidote, which most villians don't think about, which was really kind of awesome to see a villian do that.

She definitely deserves to be in the Disney villian line-up. She does not stray from her character and seems to actually get crazier as the movie goes on.

Her death scene marked the beginning of the Disney tradition of not having an on-screen death.

Prince

He is just your standard genaric, any male can fit into role, prince. I was glad to have had a least a little more of the character than just the scene where he shows up and kisses her. It was good to see some kind of relationship before that scene.

Animation

I quite enjoy the animation, but I do have one critism. It's inconsistant. The Dwarves, Vultures, Peddler, and a few of the animals looked more like a cartoony version and Snow White, the Queen, Prince, and most of the animals looked more realistic.

The background are beautiful. They definitely did not cheap out on them.

I definitely like the effects in the film, especially the transformation scene.

Music

The music, both background and songs, are fit the mood perfectly. I quite enjoyed them. My favorite song was Heigh-Ho. My least favorite was Someday My Prince Will Come for it making Snow White seem like she is dependant on her prince to rescue her.

Similarities

The first similarity is Cinderella. The fact that Snow White is a maid, the Queen is her evil stepmother, and Snow White talks to animals reminds me of that film.

The second similarity is Sleeping Beauty. The line, "Did I frighten you?" is similar to a line used by Prince Phillip in that film.

The third similarity is Romeo and Juliet. The fact that the prince is serenading Snow White on the balcony is similar to a scene in that play.

The fourth similarity is Once Upon a Time. The fact that the show focuses on Snow White and Prince David is one of the similarities. Another is when Snow White is picking the flowers. In the episode, Wish You Were Here, Emma is shown picking flowers and humming.

The fifth similarity is Bambi. Some of the animals, remind me of the animals from that film.

Conclusion

Much like The Adventures of Prince Achmed, this one is a bit more controvercial. The big con of the film is that it does use a rather primitive way of looking at relationships. If you are bothered by inconsistant animation, then I suggest not watching this film. I also do not recommend this film for little kids as some of the scenes might scare them. With that being said, there are still some good things about this. It holds five historical titles, which I listed at the beginning. It also has a pretty fun story if you can get past its primitive nature and inconsistant animation. If you like good villains, I also recommend this film for that respect. If you like the songs, I also recommend watching this film.

1934-5: The New Gulliver

Introduction

The New Gulliver is a Soviet Union film, which combines live action and animation. It is a retelling of a the classic, Gulliver's Travels, through the eyes of a boy.

While it is referred to as a drama, there are plenty of comedic moments and the end of the film assures the audience that the movie is not to be taken too seriously. After two movies, it was nice to see some comedy finally being considered. While I did not laugh at all the jokes, there were a few that made me giggle.

Synopsis

Noting the fact that I knew very little about this film before going into it, I was surprised to see the beginning of the film be in live-action. I knew that their would be integration, but I didn't expect it to be that much. Anyway, the opening shows a live-action body of water. Besides the model sets, the whole movie takes place in a live-action setting. It then fades to show the opening credits or should I say credits since there aren't any end credits. After the credits are shown, the movie shows campers leaving their camp and going towards a beach, The campers are singing a song along the way. For some reason, two of them are holding accordions. This may have been the first sign of the movie's ridiculous nature. When they get on the beach, the sea-scouts, as revealed in the song, are greeted by a group of waving campers. The sea-scouts stop at a boat. Through the next few moments, which feature the crowd and the sea-scouts, one boy is uncomfortably focused on. The camp councilor tells the kids they are there to celebrate the kids achievement of building a "yacht" out of broken boat parts. The group of kids who built the boat will be the ones who will go to an island called, "Adalara Island".  Two of the boys are singled out for being the best. One, Comrade Yudin (named after his actor, "Ivan Yudin"), is given the position of instructing the small group on their journey. The other, Comrade Konstantinov (named off his actor, "Vladimir Konstantinov"), is award Gulliver's Travels, which is noted to be the boy's favorite book. The kids board the Aptek, which is the boat, or as the captions call it, "Artek". It gets pushed into the water. One voyage and song later, the group reaches Adalara Island.The kids go up to the top of the small, rocky island. Here, the children eat breakfast. Comrade Konstantinov starts to read Gulliver's Travels. Another kid joins him. Soon, the whole group wants Comrade Yudin read Gulliver's Travels to them. He starts to and Comrade Konstantinov starts to fall asleep. 

In full sleep, he dreams that he is Gulliver. (Throughout the dream, I will refer to Comrade Konstantinov as Gulliver.) The main part of his dream starts with pirates in a storm. Somehow, Gulliver appears on the ship. One of the pirates asks Gulliver who he is and Gulliver responds, "Petya Gulliver". Gulliver helps steer the boat. Meanwhile, the captain does not like how lazy his crew is being. He seems to be more harsh to a young man, which Gulliver does not like. Gulliver stops steering and yells at the captain for hurting the boy. Gulliver goes down to the deck and punches the captain. The young man introduces himself as "Yanya". (He is played by Ivan Yudin.) He and Gullver shake hands. The two then have to fight off the pirates. At some point, Yanya throws a pirate overboard, where there is a giant fish, reading to eat the pirate. At some point, another kid joined the party. Anyway, the three move a canon towards the crew and threaten to shoot them if they do not stop. He requests that the pirates throw down their weapons. The crew does so. However, none of this matters as the ship, which was not being steered, runs into a rock, which causes part of it to explode. the pirates and Gulliver's group are put thrown out to see. Gulliver manages to grab onto a mast. He notices his suitcase, floating away. He yells out about it, explaining that his homework was in it. Yanya calls out to Gulliver for help. Yanya manages to get hold onto the mast as well. However, he looses grip and starts to drown. Gulliver dives after him, trying to save him. However, something goes wrong and Gulliver passes out.

Later, a document is shown explaining, to the chief of police, that a living mountain shaped like a man has been washed onto shore and is being guarded. Two men are shown with the document. One of the men gives it to a delivery man, who takes it and rides away. Gulliver starts to wake up. He repeats, "Drink." A group rummages Gulliver's body and takes his stuff. Near the feet of Gulliver, are soldiers and canons. Some guards link arms and make a barrier around Gulliver. Soon, the Chief of Police arrives by car. Two men who were on Gulliver's body use their capes to fly down to the top of the Police Chief's car. He gets out of the car. One of the men explains to the Police Chief that they found some stuff while rummaging. He also explains that Gulliver wants to drink. A newspaper salesman throws out some newspapers for the citizens of the island, which is revealed to be Lilliput. The newspaper salesman says that the mountain is living, but the Police Chief does not believe this. He says that it is the new Gulliver. He tells the other police officers to dispense the crowd. He then tells other officers to bring the items to Parliament. He starts to say that he wants Gulliver to be drugged, but stops himself and suggests that Gulliver get a drink. However, they still drug him with a drug that endures sleeping. They put it in the water and spray it in his mouth.

Later, in Parliament, the King is introduced. (Yay, another movie with a king!) He is next to the police chief and another guy, who is important. Scientists examine the large items and are fascinated by them. Three of them are examining the match box. One of them asks the Professor what he believes the match is. He licks it and says that it is poison. The other important guy says that the king is thinking and needs silence. The king is shown, sleeping. (I am going to call the other important guy the "Speaker" from now on.) The King wakes up and laughs. (He laughs quite a bit throughout the film.) Three of the cape wearing men from earlier enter the room and land near the king. The king greets the men, revealing that they are called, "Eagles". They agree the king. The Eagles shows the king a paper that reveals that Gulliver is moving. The Parliament starts arguing. The Police Chief tells the Speaker that Gulliver could be a good ally. The Speaker says that he could work with the workers to overthrow the rulers. The Police Chief says that he will take appropriate measures. One group in Parliament wants him dead, which the Police Chief likes. The other wants him to live. A fight breaks out. Eventually, the Police Chief stops the fight to say that the king is about to speak. The speaker starts a record player underneath the kings robe. The record starts and the king lip-sinks to a speech. One of the members of Parliament suggests they send Gulliver back to where he came from. Some members agree. The Speaker tells them to stop interrupting the king. He puts his fist down, but he does it on the record, which makes it crack. He starts the record again, but it gets stuck on the line, "cheating the nation". The Speaker stops the disc and says that the king has decided to make Gulliver a soldier. One of the members praises the king and so do the others. 

Later, there is a parade, which features Gulliver, who is starting to wake up. He is being moved on a movable platform. The parade stops when it reaches where the Police Chief and Speaker are. The Police Chief yells at Gulliver to wake up. They use many tactics to wake Gulliver up. None of them seem to work. Soon, the King arrives and attempts to wake up Gulliver. He does so by making the boy sneeze. This makes the king fly away to a nearby platform. Gulliver sees that he is in a world of little people. The King, Police Chief, and Speaker explain where they are and what they want from Gulliver. Gulliver does not want to be a soldier, but the Speaker thinks that all he needs is more convincing, so he gives him a parade and music.

Meanwhile, in an underground cave, Gulliver's Suitcase has washed up into the cave. A group of workers come and open the case. They find Gulliver's homework. There is a meeting of the workers. Here, the leader of the group says that they will begin their revolt the next day. One of the workers asks what if Gulliver is working for the soldiers. The leader says that if that is true, Gulliver will fall with the soldiers. The homework is brought back to camp for research on Gulliver. For some reason, it is says that the book belongs to Petya Konstantinov.

Back on the surface, there is a celebration of Gulliver, which is also a feast. There are several acts. Eventually, the exaggeratedly small midgets called, "Dwarfs" are shown. The Feast scene introduces the Queen. Anyway, the Concert Organizer brings a Dwarf to Gulliver per his request. He is fascinated with how small the Dwarf is. When that is done. They start to dance around. Apparently, at least one of the Dwarfs was not doing a good enough job because the Concert Organizer starts to whip them, which Gulliver does not like. He starts yelling at the Concert Organizer. The Police Chief corrects the action by saying that they do not hurt anyone. Gulliver demands to know how the folk are living. The final act is then presented to Gulliver. It is a woman singing about how the folk are supposedly living. It explains that they have a great life and don't have to worry about anything. Gulliver does not believe the song. The Police Chief and Speaker deny this and ask Gulliver to sing about what he believes the truth is. Gulliver (or should I say the woman who is dubbing for Gulliver) sings the song at the beginning of the film. This makes everyone freak out. The Queen even passes out, which she will do a couple more times in the film. The Police Chief attempts to use the orchestra to drown out Gulliver's singing. Soon, the King and Queen leave the scene back to their palace. Underground, the workers start to sing the song. Noticing no one around, Gulliver gets up and walks away and sits down near a wall.. In two barrels, the police chief and the member of the Parliament that suggested that Gulliver be killed agree that Gulliver needs to be killed. Gulliver decides to go to sleep.

Elsewhere, the Police Chief arrives at the underground factory, where they make weapons. The Police Chief tells the supervisor to make weapons to destroy Gulliver immediately. The Supervisor agrees. One of the workers hears the plan and says they need to warn Gulliver.

Back with Gulliver, Eagles watch him. One of the workers tries to wake Gulliver up by pushing his leg. For some reason, this works. Gulliver notices the worker and brings him closer to his face. The worker warns of the Eagles. Gulliver asks how the worker knows him. The worker says that they found Gulliver's exercise-book. The worker introduces himself as a worker in the underground factory. The worker warns Gulliver that the leaders want to kill him.

Meanwhile, the Police Chief tells two members of Parliament that weapons are ready to kill Gulliver. The police chief gets a call about the weapons. He says that at least 300 is too little.

Back with Gulliver, the worker tells Gulliver to be prepared the next day. One of the Eagles crashes through the window of where the Police Chief is. The two Parliament members are caught off guard and get scared. The Eagle tells the Police Chief that Gulliver knows everything. The Police Chief tells the Eagle to poison Gulliver and that they will be ready to attack the workers the next day. Soon, Gulliver coughs, which gives the signal to the workers to stop working. The workers start the revolt. They start by destroying the factory. They then attack the supervisor. Meanwhile, in the palace, the King and Queen are freaking out. They get word of the factory being destroyed and the police not being able to do anything about it. In the Arsenal, the workers are taking the weapons to use for their own purposes. The King and Queen start packing to leave.

Back with Gulliver, he is writing or drawing in the sand. A group of people show up, including the Speaker and the Police Chief. He claims they are celebrating the King's birthday and offer him a drink. At first, he does not accept, but after they explain it is tradition, he drinks it. He then falls over. However, he did not swallow it and secretly spits it out. He then pretends to be dead. The group leaves to face the rebels. 

Shortly after, a war ensues. Eventually, an announcement is heard that makes it seem like the Police Chief has almost won. The queen even begins unpacking. This announcement makes Gulliver get up and go towards the fighting. The royal group sees that Gulliver is not dead. Gulliver enters the water and pulls a rope, which somehow connects all the royal ships together. The rebels then use the bombs they set to blow up the royal tanks.

Back at the palace, the Concert Organizer arrives. Here, the king is hiding in his bed. The Concert Organizer tells the Police Chief that they have been defeated. The King runs away. The Police Chief decides to defect into the rebel group. The King runs up some stairs. The Queen is carried somewhere. The Speaker follows the King. The two reach the top of the staircase to find only a ledge. The two decided they have to go down to get out. Soldiers are on the staircase. The king jumps, but lands on a hand of a clock. The Speaker falls and crushes the Police Chief. Supposedly, they are both dead. Gulliver looks around and then plays a bugle. He sees the bell and grabs it. He starts shaking it and says, "I declare open the meeting of free lilliputs!" At some point during that, it cuts to Comrade Konstantinov back in the real world. The other kids laugh and he wakes up. He doesn't appear to be embarrassed. The movie ends with a shot of the water.

Characters

Comrade Konstantinov/Gulliver

Of the movies I've seen in this project thus far, this has been my favorite protagonist, mostly since he isn't a dick or an anti-hero. His character comes mostly from his wanting for everyone to be treated right.

The Police Chief and Speaker

These two are very clearly the villains of the story and definitely get what they deserve by the end of it. They also appear to be the real rulers of the land.

King

He is a completely idiot and I am pretty sure that was the point. He was able to be manipulated by the Police Chief and Speaker very well.

Animation

I was okay with the animation. While it is not the best animation that I've ever scene, it is also not as bad as the one from The Tale of the Fox. Unlike the last two movies, there weren't a lot of effects. The only notable one was when Gulliver is drowning or being passing out. It was fine, but the fact that I don't know what it was signifying is not a positive.

Similarities

The only notable similarity was that the animation style reminded me of the style used by Rankin/Bass Productions.

Conclusion

So far, this has been my favorite movie and I was so exited to write this review that I did it in only one day. However, there are a few negative things to consider before you decide to watch this. It does contain some high-pitched sounds, notably the speaking and singing of the Lilliputs. It is does get kind of slow. Much like the last movie, if you do not like the animation style used by what I referenced in the Similarities section. If you can get past these things, I recommend it for both the fact that I believe it is a good movie and the fact that it is historically significant.