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At first, I was blinded by the light. Upon seeing former Doctor Who vixen Catherine Tate for a split second in this first trailer for Gulliver’s Travels, I was smitten. After viewing the trailer a second time, I saw what was really going on. This is perhaps the least funny movie trailer I’ve seen in years. It smacks of the flatness experienced by viewers the last time Jack Black had a big movie coming out. Remember how Year One turned out? Awful, I know.

This 20th Century Fox produced pic is a contemporary adaptation of Jonathan Swift’s story about “travel writer Lemuel Gulliver who takes an assignment in Bermuda, but ends up on the island of Liliput, where he towers over its tiny citizens.” It stars (along with Black) Jason Segel, Emily Blunt, Romany Malco, Billy Connolly, T.J. Miller, and Amanda Peet and is directed by Monsters vs. Aliens co-director Rob Letterman.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself and completely dismiss this film based on one trailer, but I think we can all agree that this is pretty bad. Almost as if it was a giant practical joke on the part of Jack Black, who’s proven himself to be running out of comedic real estate as of late.

The full synopsis and trailer are below. Gulliver’s Travels is due out December 22, 2010. You can also watch the trailer in high definition at Apple.com.

Synopsis:

In a contemporary re–imagining of the classic tale, Jack Black stars as Gulliver, a big–talking mailroom clerk who, after he’s mistakenly assigned a travel piece on the Bermuda Triangle, suddenly finds himself a giant among men when he washes ashore on the hidden island of Lilliput, home to a population of very tiny people. At first enslaved by the diminutive and industrious Liliputians, and later declared their hero, Gulliver comes to learn that it’s how big you are on the inside that counts.

Trailer:

On the Side: It’s worth reminding you that this was the movie that Emily Blunt chose to make instead of playing Black Widow in Iron Man 2.