Viewed in
2009
Premise
In Heath Ledger's last performance, he (with some help from Colin Farrell, Jude Law, and Johnny Depp) plays an amnesiac saved by a traveling carnival family, which includes a mysterious door that lets you enter a magical, but dangerous world created by your imagination.
Who should watch
Those who like trippy movies.
Thoughts
As expected, it was trippy and weird. What was kind of surprising was the story-telling.
While there was attention paid to Ledger's last act, this was more of an ensemble effort, including the costume designs and visual effects. I really appreciated the hard work and caring love that was put into this film.
For a Terry Gilliam movie, things made sense for most of the parts. Too often for these types of movies, they would just prop up a plot to string together all these wild visual moments. Instead, the story was basically easy to understand, the characters had real motivations and actions, and even the Gilliam-esqe scenes had logic embedded in their madness.
Obviously, Ledger's death sucked. Thankfully, it was well-timed in the sense that all his scenes outside the Imaginarium were already completed. They were able to easily explain why Ledger enters the magical door, and come out as Farrell/Law/Depp without distracting my movie experience. Actually, the extra device of the transformations added an extra dimension to the power of the Imaginarium.
The rest of the cast was cool and eclectic. You had legendary Christopher Plummer, hilariously bizarre Tom Waits, and a well-cast Verne Troyer. In addition were two relatively unknowns, Andrew Garfield, and radiant redhead, Lily Cole, who was effing-hot, or as a character described her 'scrumptious'.
Despite some wild visuals, there was rarely a shot that made me go 'wow' or utter something else, which was a little disappointing coming from such a wonderful, demented director. Also, even though it made sense for a Gilliam movie, I was still confused during and after, such as why Troyer's character keeps hanging out with Plummer's. Lastly, the special effects were average, which was probably a bloody miracle considering that Gilliam never gets a worthy budget.
I recommend this film for its crazy visuals, interesting story, and heart. Also I saw one last glimpse of Heath Ledger's risk-taking and creative potential.
What I would change
I kind of disagreed with the climax, as I thought the scrumptious daughter should have played a stronger role, but ending made sense for the two characters chosen to determine the resolution.
