Movie: Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

[Retriever Mama]

So I have a love/hate relationship with Neil Gaiman. I love some of his stuff (12 Monkeys in particular) and hate some stuff (Brothers Grimm was horrid). And as this is the last work of Heath Ledger (he died in the middle of production - Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell stepped in to cover Heath's role in various incarnations) I tried it.

Huh. Visually some of the craziest stuff I've ever seen. Wait. Lemme back up a bit and give you plot. Dr. Parnassus made a deal with the Devil...the actual Devil...many years ago. Any child he had he had to hand over to the Devil on their 16th Birthday. So, its a few days before his daughter Valentina's 16th birthday. They are caravanning around performing an old stage act trying to inspire people's imaginations. Which is pretty easy when you have a magic mirror that transports you to world filled with your imagination...literally.

So the devil and Dr. P. come up with a final bet to try to save/win Valentina. Who can convert 5 souls first to Dr. P. or the Devil's view? In comes Heath Ledger as Tony, who may or may not be a good guy and may or may not be able to save Valentina.

It sounds better than it actually was. Again...the special effects for inside the Imaginarium were insane...kind of like Yellow Submarine meets Wizard of Oz meets Timothy Leary. Very cool stuff.

But I think the production stoppage because of Ledger's death and the re-writes to complete the film...made it more confusing than I normally find a Gaiman story. Seemed like a lot of quick-fixes and "Oh look! Johnny Depp!"

So ... cool to watch if you're into the special effects side of things, but otherwise...nah.


2 1/2 Stars

[Jan]

I enjoyed it - it was good to see something more imaginative and less predictable than most Hollywood movies! But it was strange, and I'm not sure I'd see it again.