The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

	UK, CANADA, FRANCE 2009 Director: Terry Gilliam Cast: Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield, Verne Troyer, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell, Tom Waits Rating: PG-13 Release Date: 16 October 2009 (UK) Running Time: 2 hours 3 minutes The Movie Review		The IMAGINARIUM Of DOCTOR PARNASSUS Storyline: Cast: Ending: Overall:
	The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is the late Heath Ledger's final film. To those of you who aren't familiar with the man, he had starred in movies like 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), A Knight's Tale (2001) and of course the well-known The Dark Knight (2008). However, since Heath already passed away before the movie was wrapped, several actors were needed to fill in his role. And what a remarkable list: Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Collin Farrell were cast. Kinda like Bruce Lee's untimely death while making The Game of Death (1978). In the present time London, Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer of The Sound of Music (1965)) is running his sideshow act with his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole), a young man named Anton (Andrew Garfield) and a dwarf (Verne Troyer). Doctor Parnassus is a thousand-year old man, he could live much longer than any man for having deal with the devil. In Doctor's Parnassus' trailer/house/stage/double-decker-bus there is a magical mirror that if a person enters it, it's filled with something surrealistically beautiful or eerie. Of course in this modern time, his business is not going well, and on their way home they pick up a near death man who claimed to have amnesia (Heath Ledger). But why the devil (Tom Waits) grins on them? What is really Doctor Parnassus and the devil wants? I had high expectation with this fantasy movie, everything seems very promising, from the director and the writer, Terry Gilliam, with his talent in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). The A-list actors, especially Johnny Depp, who always performed brilliantly in any fantasy movie, and furthermore this movie has the exotically sexy redhead actress Lily Cole in it. But I was very excited to find that my expectation was exceeded by the overall entertainment quality of this movie, as a fantasy movie that is. It's really a journey to a whimsical world, but not just that, the world in this movie is also bizarre, surreal and filled with many unexpected things. I guess the title consisting the word 'Imaginarium' really fits the bill. That being said, it means that you know what you're getting into. A world where logic sometimes forgotten, a place where it's needed for you to be open-minded. It's not for everybody that's for sure, it's not Walt Disney like fantasy or kingdom-damsel-in-distress like fantasy, but something far more surrealistic and illogical. If you like that premise, you would be very entertained by what Terry Gilliam offers you. The storyline may be confusing, but I don't think we're supposed to find logical reasoning behind it, even if it does, I personally didn't care much about that, all I know that as a fantasy film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a great one. And Lily Cole always steals the attention every time she's on screen, and we got to see Heath Ledger's final performance. If you find Alice in Wonderland 3-D (2010) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus displayed side by side, I suggest that you go to the latter movie, Alice in Wonderland fails to really mesmerize fantasy film fans with its fantasy world, while the latter would really treat your mind with something both serious, dark but also highly imaginative. On the other hand if you're not imaginative enough, of course Alice with its adventure is better, besides, sometimes you just can't beat 3D. © iwan pranowo of Movielogy.com posted: Mar 14th 2010 04:27 am

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