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.
No comments:
Post a Comment