The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Terry Gilliam has made some fantastic and extraordinary films - like this and this and this. The Imaginarium, isn't in the league of those, but it's close - it wants to be and I want it to be, but it's not.

The things I loved:
*Tom Waits, first and foremost, plays the perfect devil. He is spectacular and I was giddy with....giddiness?...whatever, so psyched whenever he was on screen.
*The four actors playing the role of Tony, I think worked great and added a bonus surreality to the movie that was fun and unexpected (even though I had read that it was coming.)
*The costumes, the props and the sets - even the CGI (is that what that is called?) stuff which I tend not to like inside the imaginarium - were gorgeous.

The things I didn't love: ...are harder to put into words.

*I was left feeling a little overworked to sort out all the plots at the end. I think things tied up clumsily and forgettably. I think Gilliam is capable of better and I wanted extraordinary.

*The premise of the film requires (as Gilliam often does) a HUGE amount just letting go and enjoying what's happening without worrying over the details. I am happy to do that, for sure, but it would be a better movie if Gilliam worked on those details and little more.

*Lily Cole's tiny chin made me nervous.

And last but not least - for the just effin' weird file: At one point in the Imaginarium, Heath Ledger's character sees a crying child on the side of a river and wonders aloud if this is where he must chose between good and evil. In response, Lily Cole's character, with whom we sympathize, exclaims, "That's not a choice, it's a child!" I audibly gasped and was distracted by it for the rest of the film. WTF? Is Gilliam anti-abortion?

I'm giving it a 3.5 out of 5 stars rating - go see it, but know that Gilliam could have (and has!) done better.