'The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus'

'The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus (09) (PG-13) **1/2

Writers: Charles McKeown and Terry Gilliam
Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law, Verne Troyer, Lily Cole, Tom Waits

Terry Gilliam has a wild and wonderful imagination that is displayed in all his movies. Some of his movies are somewhat unsuccessful because they are over stuffed and meandering but are never boring. His best constructed film is probably 'Brazil' which I like but am not a huge fan of. My favorite Gilliam movies like 'Fisher King' and 'Time Bandits' are full of flights of fancy and are masterpieces to me. 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus' fits into the meandering, over stuffed category though like all Gilliam films it is breathtaking to look at! The visual effects are sumptuous and when the movie lags the cinematography picks it up. A dark shadow is hovering over the movie because of the death half way through filming of Heath Ledger. Ledger was a huge blow to me because he was the best actor of his age range. Though that death doesn't affect the story in any way and Gilliam does a great job of filling in the work Ledger missed with other, great and intense actors like him. The story is a little complicated for my own good but it involves a travelling circus show that is run by Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer)and his daughter and a dwarf played by Verne Troyer (Austin Powers). The Doctor sold his soul to the devil played by Tom Waits and he has to come up with five souls to get back his immortality. They pick up a stranger played by Ledger who was about to kill himself or was that really what happened? The story to me then meanders and I grew a little restless with what seemed to me dialogue that didn't move the story forward. The jumping between the real World and the World within the show gets tiring. The movie needed another go around in editing because it feels messy and unglued. Heath Ledger is very good but I couldn't enjoy his performance because it seemed the story and dialogue was distracting me. Verne Troyer is also excellent as is the rest of the cast and Ferrell, Law and Depp are wonderful finishing up Ledger's role. The visual effects are astonishing and I would recommend the film slightly on those effects and if you want to see Ledger in his final role. I can't recommend the film entirely because I felt a little cold towards the story. At least Gilliam is one of the few storytellers now who has a real wonderful imagination.