Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels (1939) is Dave Fleischer's animated feature you can watch online on iFILM, loosely spun from Jonathan Swift's satire. A shipwreck washes the giant Gulliver onto the shore of Lilliput, where he wakes pinned to the sand by a hundred tiny ropes.

The Lilliputians are wary at first, then desperate: their kingdom is sliding into war with the equally pint-sized rival island of Blefuscu. The whole feud started over a trifle, but two stubborn kings have blown it up into a brawl. Gulliver, whose size and plain common sense suddenly count for everything, tries to broker peace and smooth the romance between a prince and princess from opposing courts. A fussy town crier named Gabby and a bumbling trio of spies keep tripping him up.

This was only the second animated feature ever made in the United States — Fleischer Studios rushed it out right after Disney's Snow White as a direct challenge. Bright, tuneful and good-natured, it plays just as well for kids as for the parents watching alongside them. Stream Gulliver's Travels (1939) online on iFILM.