I viaggi di Gulliver

"Gulliver's Travels" is one of the great animated features of its' time. It was made as a response to Disney's wildly successful "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". Today, "Gulliver's Travels" is not accorded the same respect as the Disney pictures and is pretty much forgotten.

Why? This is as good as "Snow White". After all, it was made by the Fleischer brothers, contemporaries of animation and in my opinion, geniuses. They made the 17 classic Superman shorts that still spellbind people today, including myself. They made those classic 20 minute plus Popeye shorts. Betty Boop, Grampy, Screen Songs, Little Lulu, Gabby (spawned from this feature) the list goes on. Famous Studios was one of the most prolific animation studios of its' time.

While purists may complain that it doesn't stay faithful to the book, I think the changes are appropriate. What kid would understand Swift's social satire? What adult would really want to see a wholly faithful cartoon of the book. Besides, we have the 1996 epic film with Ted Danson to go to with accuracy.

The songs are surprisingly great considering how some can be overkill in a film like this. The characters are endearing and the story is solid and involving. What more could you ask for?

**** out of 4 stars