Where is the GUI for VideoLAN?

Using Ubuntu 12.04, this is the result I get from loading vlc from the command line as you have done:

doctormo@delen:~$ vlc
VLC media player 2.0.3 Twoflower (revision 2.0.2-93-g77aa89e)
[0x9b35908] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.

Where upon the graphical front end loaded correctly.

This means that there is something with your installation, or the way your trying to load vlc. If you're logged into another user or computer via the command line, then you can't load the GUI. But you've given no indication you're using a different user (su) or another computer (ssh).

Reinstall vlc like this and try again:

sudo apt-get purge vlc vlc-nox
sudo apt-get install vlc

It should also be available in the Unity/Gnome/KDE menu, it has a desktop icon so you could always use that too. You can force the GUI using these commands:

For KDE/Qt:

vlc --intf qt4

otherwise:

vlc --intf skins2