Product Description

The spellbinding adventures of Gulliver's Travels is transformed into three dimensional reality in this live-action adaptation of Jonathan Swift's beloved classic. Kerwin Mathews stars as Gulliver the swashbuckling doctor who set sail for fame and fortune in the fabled East Indies but finds adventure romance and danger instead in Brobdingnag and Lilliput the infamous lands of the great and small. One of the most complicated films of its time. The 3 Worlds of Gulliver is both an enchanting fantasy and a captivating visual treat. Because the storyline calls for scenes that juxtapose forty-foot giants with six-inch-tall special effect wizard Ray Harryhausen perfected a state of the art trick photography process so innovative they had to invent a new word for it: Superdynamation.System Requirements:Running Time: 99 Min. Color. Copyright 2002 Columbia TriStar.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR UPC: 043396059207 Manufacturer No: 05920

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18903 in DVD
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 2002-04-16
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dubbed, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 60 minutes

Amazon.com
Imaginative special effects by the legendary Ray Harryhausen are the highlights of this adaptation of Jonathan Swift's classic fantasy novel. Kerwin Mathews, who rose to fame after appearing opposite Harryhausen's "Superdynamation" effects in The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958), stars as the English Dr. Gulliver, whose travels bring him in contact with both the diminutive Lilliputians and the gigantic Brobdingnagians. Director Jack Sher's script (with Arthur Ross) tempers Swift's pointed satire in favor of broader humor, and the musical numbers are decidedly unwelcome, but viewers of all ages will be delighted by the film's spirited action and Bernard Herrmann's rousing score. Harryhausen aficionados may be disappointed by the lack of fantastical creatures on display (though a giant squirrel and alligator are impressive), but his matte work here is nothing short of spectacular. --Paul Gaita

Additional features
The DVD presents the film in full-screen format and includes trailers for other Harryhausen fantasy adventures, as well as a trio of behind-the-scenes documentaries.

From the Back Cover
The spellbinding adventures of Gulliver's Travels are transformed into three-dimensional reality in this live-action adaptation of Jonathan Swift's beloved classic. Kerwin Matthews stars as Gulliver, the swashbuckling doctor who sets sail for fame and fortune in the fabled East Indies, but finds adventure, romance, and danger instead in Brobdingnag and Lilliput, the infamous lands of the great and small. One of the most complicated films of its time, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver is both an enchanting fantasy and a captivating visual treat. Because the storyline calls for scenes that juxtapose forty-foot giants with six-inch-tall people, special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen perfected a state-of-the-art trick photography process so innovative, they had to invent a new word for it: Superdynamation.

Customer Reviews

Noncombative answer to screen ratio transfer debate.
If you're considering a purchase of this title, but are wary because of the occasional misinformation and confusion regarding the original screen ratio and the preservation of this ratio in the transfer, then don't fret. With no intention of starting a debate, I can comfortably state that the film hasn't been re-formatted to fit your screen (although this is inaccurately stated before the film begins). Concerned that the studio/corporation had balked on an authentic widescreen transfer, I spent more time than I care to admit in pursuit of clues and/or answers without doing any severe film-scholar-like research. Anyway, although you may encounter what appears to be a 16X9 transfer in the U.K. and EU markets, I don't believe that these are any more accurate than the supposed widescreen preview/trailer found on several of the Harryhausen Collection discs. In fact, it's the very preview on "3 Worlds" for "3 Worlds" that solved the riddle. Here's the deal: It's a banded, or barred trailer (wherein the black bars at the top and bottom are actually hiding or covering the picture beneath). Whether this was done for exhibition on a 1:85 to 1 or 16X9 big screen, I can't say, but the visual material in between the bars is composed the same as the "supposedly" cropped transfer. I took a couple of easy-to-find images from the trailer and double-checked them by using the chapter search. Anyway, you don't want the widescreen version of "3 Worlds" anymore than you want a widescreen version of "Shane." It simply isn't the screen ratio in which these films were shot. If you think I'm wrong, then please check for yourself. Screen composition and visuals are only being compromised in the artificially "wide" versions. Lastly, while viewing this watered-down, but totally delightful feature, you'll notice that the on-screen composition fits the 1:37 to 1 ratio, which is to say that the character group shots fit very comfortably, as does the entirety of the film's action, while there aren't any distracting pan-and-scan artificial edits that usually show up during two-shot dialogue sequences and the like... Please pardon this messy and long-winded response to the transfer complaints that I came across, but I felt sort of obligated to save some time for those of you who may want to view or purchase this title, but may (understandably) hesitate due to the feedback conflict.

Harryhausen is a national treasure, but unnecessary DVD
This excellent documentary is already available on the DVDs "7th Voyage of Sinbad", "First men on the Moon", and several other DVD releases. I can't imagine that the "creatures gallery" could justify a purchase of this, even for die-hard model-building fans.

Good documentary bad idea as separate release
Sad that so many people rated this as one star since in fact the chronicles are interesting and well done. Why the studio decided to release this on a separate DVD when it is all ready on most Ray Harryhausen DVD movies released is odd. Suffice it to say the chronicles are well worth seeing. If you want them just buy a great Harryhausen movie like "Jason and the Argonauts" or "Mysterious Island" on DVD.