The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, a review by Rick
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus 
OverviewEnter a dazzling world of fantasy in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, director Terry Gilliam's magical adventure tale starring Heath Ledger in his last film role along with Christopher Plummer, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law. In exchange for extraordinary powers, Doctor Parnassus (Plummer) makes a deal with the Devil to turn over any child of his when they turn sixteen. But as his daughter Valentine's (Lily Cole) birthday approaches, a mysterious stranger (Ledger) arrives with the power to change everything. In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Doctor Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all!
My Thoughts:Forget the hype about this being Heath Ledger's last movie and forget for a minute it's a Terry Gilliam movie. This movie is an imaginative look at good versus evil. Plain and simple. That is the underlying theme throughout from the beginning to the end and shows itself in many of the sub plots. The movies uniqueness is a welcome change from a lot of what you typically expect to see. Everything immediately surrounding the Doctor and his cast of characters could be transported to 1900 and would fit right in yet the movie takes place in our current time. While I found it bizarre I was drawn in and wanted to see how the story would play out, if good or evil would win.
Now let's add Terry Gilliam back into the mix. I am a fan of his since I used to watch Monty Python's Flying Circus in the early 1970s on the local PBS station (Sunday night - 10:00 I believe). You know when he is involved with a movie, especially as the writer, it is going to be an experience. You can definitely see his influence all over this movie. For me that is a good thing. The 'through the mirror' scenes are just flat out trippy and would probably be even more appreciated under the influence of some mind altering drug but I'm way too old for that crap so I had to just enjoy them with a clear head. Even at that though there was one particular sequence where I felt my mind was altered
... perhaps some sort of early eighties flashback
. I have never seen Brazil (I know
). After watching this movie I certainly intend to rectify that as I understand it is one of Gilliam's best. Add to that Imaginarium is also co-written by Charles McKeown who helped Gilliam write Brazil. Makes me want to watch it even more. I do believe I'll wait for a blu-ray to be released though.
As everyone here knows (I'm guessing anyay) this was Heath Ledgers last performance movie. He died before they were able to finish it. Fortunately they seem to have done all, or at least enough, of the reality side of the mirror filming so he wasn't needed to finish the movie. They simply used other actors for the inside the mirror scenes. They either added a scene at the very beginning or changed the existing scene to show you that when you are on the inside of the mirror you may not look like yourself. Bam. Instant plausible explanation. Something that actually added to the movie if you ask me and probably made it even better.
Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell played Ledger's character for his imagination scenes. All three did a fine job. Their parts were short but worked. I thought Gilliam did a good job putting each of them into the right scene. Of the three I would say Colin Farrell did the best but that could be because he was at the end when the story was about over. Heath Ledger was very good in this. Parts of his performance seemed to have a bit of the Joker's influence in it. Maybe that's just Ledger's manic mode. I also found I couldn't help but compare a lot of what he was doing to Johnny Depp's past performances. I wonder if Depp was an influence for Ledger
I don't know if Ledger would have ever been one of the great ones but I do know I typically enjoyed his acting, including this role. It is a shame he was taken so early in his career. With this movie being about good vs evil and a deal with the devil it made me think. I've always wondered about these performers whose careers seem to burn bright for such a limited time then they are taken... Ever since that goofy Ralph Macchio movie Crossroads
There is a great relationship between Christopher Plummer's character and Verne Troyer's character. You don't fully understand just how deep it is until the final scene. The rest of the actors are basically nobodies, but that works. Lily Cole, whose character is actually what the entire story revolves around, seems to fit in perfectly with what I mentioned before. She works in the current world but you can easily see her same character 100+ years ago.
I need to watch this movie again. I'm sure there are many little things I missed the first time around. If you enjoy unique storytelling with interesting characters and the occasional mind trip then this movie is for you.
My Rating 
(From Rick's "Vowels Only" Marathon Reviews on August 2nd, 2010)
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May 20, 2024, 10:06:16 PM
