The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989)

Terry Gilliam has created a memorable if uneven canon of films based largely on the meta-theme of imagination. That is to say, he has made a career of telling stories about telling stories. Most fan favorite lists would include Brazil, Time Bandits, The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen, 12 Monkeys, the indefinitely shelved The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, The Brothers Grimm and most recently, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassas. There are a few common threads running through all these films including The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassas and its typological predecessor, The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen.In choosing his source material, Gilliam favors those stories that cut a rather wide swath through time and space. Witness the exploits of the good Baron, conquering everything from the Ottomans to the king of the moon. Time Bandits do just that--pilfer throughout history. Brazil traverses...I don't actually know.Gilliam uses his camera to capture dystopian worlds, worlds that typically bear a passing resemblance to ours, but with the bleakness turned to eleven. The darkness is usually leavened by a cartoonish level of abstraction especially evident in the costumes and set pieces (here the erstwhile illustrator of the Pythons is in evidence. The aesthetics and the promise (or premise) of a good story draw us in.But, as is often the case with a Terry Gilliam meditation, the whole thing feels overwrought and under developed. Munchausen is a collection of great movie quotes, set pieces, and performances. But it is an overlong slog through the grim landscape of an aging man's narcissism and manias. One I still revisit every few years though.

it is one of the splendid films for the children. maybe , more, for the inner child. because it reflects entire imagination, eccentricity, delightful scenes, mix between kitsch and nice details, cultural references and a well known story who defines the universe of Terry Gilliam. a film out of borders. this is it. nothing new or special or great. only impressive, using the same emotion from the first ages when you discover extraordinary adventures and unbelievable events. the clue of its charm - the cast. a fabulous John Neville, a young and seductive Uma Thurman, Oliver Reed as powerful and sensitive god and, obvious, the Queen and the King of the Moon ( and the not comfortable allusions ). the only sin - maybe the end who must save the decent rules of genre. but this is only a small detail. because , more than a film, it is a test. about the level of maturity of viewer. if you discover its fake side, you are too old for be reasonable about this special film. if not, you are real...happy.

Although The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen went spectacularly over budget and drowned miserably at the box office the film in its after life of syndication and video distribution hasn't done all that bad for director Terry Gilliam. It's a different kind of Munchausen than the one that Dr. Goebbels produced for Nazi Germany during the height of World War II. That one was pure fantasy, this one has a lot of belly laughs which one would expect from a pair of Monty Python troupe graduates like Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam.Cast as the fabulous German aristocrat and teller of tall tales is John Neville who I first encountered and best remember as the Duke Of Marlborough in The First Churchills. He's as aristocratic as Marlborough as Munchausen, but plays it tongue in cheek with the ever present twinkle in the eye.You won't see my parent's Munchausen here. I refer of course to the famous radio show done by vaudeville dialect comedian Jack Pearl who told those tall tales to the listening audience and when getting a bit too outrageous and questioned by the announcer would give the ever ready answer, "vas you dere Charlie".Kids of all ages might like Neville's version. As for the adults what's not to like about Uma Thurman as the goddess of love Venus. The adults will definitely rent this DVD for her.

Wild and super-well filmed fantasy movie with excellent special effects and stage settings. In the same vein as "Brazil" and "Time Bandits."Seems like about what you'd get if you mixed a half a tab of LSD with a 100 million dollar film budget--it flies off in all directions, but somehow manages to stay on the rails. Thank God he didn't take the other half tab though. This is a very hard movie to describe, because it plays like a filmed dream with occasional nightmarish elements, although the overall tone is fun and optimistic. I think that to truly enjoy this movie you should have somewhat of an unconventional personality, as it's my experience that such intense and well-crafted fantasy visuals do not do well with many people; however, if you are a bit unusual (I don't want to say odd, do I?), then you might find this very unusual movie rewarding, as I did (and I'm not the least little bit odd, am I?).