While the first Gulliver's Travels trailer looked like a mindless CGI holiday paycheck for Jack Black, this new one focuses more on the insightful, sardonic satire that made Jonathan Swift's original work so legendary. It holds a giant mirror up to human nature and...nah, I'm just kidding. It's mostly about Jack Black deflecting tiny cannon balls with his bare stomach and things like that.
The new preview completely ditches the overlong plot setup from the first trailer and finds Jack Black contending with a giant tidal wave vortex within the first thirty seconds. Less than a minute in, he's tied down and face to face with the tiny inhabitants of Lilliputia. Let's see...It contains not one, but two jokes involving Jack Black trying to fist-bump with a little person. Black also rocks out with a miniature version of Kiss at one point (who are not, to my knowledge, played by Mini Kiss). And yes, he does wade naked into the ocean and deflect cannon balls from an entire fleet of tiny war ships.
There's not much else to say really. I'm confused by the complete lack of plot, despite the fact that both trailers make the movie look like it might be as long as Peter Jackson's King Kong. I'm confused by the fact that the effects still look so terrible for a big budget Christmas release. I'm also still confused that the usually funny cast, which includes Emily Blunt, Jason Segel and Romany Malco, doesn't look funny here. Check out the trailer below and let me know if I'm missing something.
Verdict: Pass. Though if this does well, maybe we'll get to see Jack Black in a sequel based on A Modest Proposal?