“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” is all flash with no substance, especially with regard to a cohesive story. With the death of Heath Ledger, it’s hard to determine how much of director Terry Gilliam’s original vision for this film remains, but it’s to his credit that he was able to make something out of the pieces he had. Unfortunately, those pieces result in a patchwork narrative that makes little sense. Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) is millennia old, having made a deal with the devil. Now, he works with a small roving carnival troupe that includes his daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), Anton (Andrew Garfield) and tiny Percy (Verne Troyer), staging magic shows that transport people through a mirror into other realities. The group saves Tony (Ledger) when they find him hanging from a noose under a bridge. Tony immediately starts to revamp the show to make it more relevant and profitable. Of course, the devil sees this as interfering.
To finish the film, Gilliam uses Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell whenever Tony passes through the mirror into another world, which allowed Gilliam to finish the movie, but it doesn’t enhance the story in any way. And the CGI, while providing a lot of eye candy, doesn’t have a center to hold it together. “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” is a visually rich fantasy that’s impossible to follow. Perhaps Gilliam would have been better off walking away. 12/30/09
1 comment:
Many are saying that had Heath Ledger lived this would have been a better motion picture......I don't agree. There was never any hope for this disjointed film, it was like a bad dream that you don't wake up from.
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