Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Seraherrera The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Blake Rivera If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

betsybirsh The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus will undoubtedly receive press because of the tragic circumstances- lead actor Heath Ledger died before the film could be completed and other stars finally ended up taking his role to complete it. The film itself is alright but it depends on the audience's sensibilities and preferences. It is definitely a delight to look at, but Terry Gilliam's films have always polarized the audiences. Johnny Depp, Colin Farell and Jude Law fill in for Ledger but ultimately this is a Gilliam show.

Filipe Neto This was, I think, my first contact with Terry Gilliam's work. He's a director who seems to follow a "Tim Burton's style": oddly fantastic and adventurous films. But if Burton is more dark and gothic, Gilliam is lighter and merrier. Anyway, the truth is that this film became better known for being Heath Ledger's last work. Maybe you have seen it because of that! In fact, he died during filming and that forced Gilliam to adapt the movie to this sad circumstance. But let's be serious and face this: it was a fatality, but this isn't Ledger's magnum opus. And I understand people talk about him, but writing a whole review about an hour-and-half movie where you only talk about one actor is stupid. There are more interesting things in this film, and I'll try to focus on it.When I started watching, I knew it was a fantasy movie but I had read only a brief note about it, so I wasn't sure what I was going to see. And suddenly, I felt myself thrown into a strangely unreal world. It all happens suddenly, when we're not expecting something like that, so my first feeling was rejection. I thought that everything was deeply implausible. But I went ahead and, as the movie rolled, I started to realize everything and I ended up enjoying it. Being unreal, imaginative and different, it ends up being very entertaining. The plot revolves around an old man, Doctor Parnassus, who lives in a permanent game with the Devil under the cover of a run-of-the-mill show, old-fashioned and unsuccessful. And then you have the several worlds behind the mirror, created by the minds of those who entered there, and that symbolical choice between good and evil. This will work if you don't question the script's verisimilitude and keep in mind, from the start, that it's a fantasy film and it has some moral and symbolical notions involved.The cast was also good. Christopher Plummer is one of those actors who almost never fails, whatever the character. He was worn out and old enough to lend credence to his character's age; Ledger was also well, and Colin Farrell, Jude Law and Johnny Depp provided support for the scenes that he had no opportunity to film. These four actors were well enough but they all did an average performance, when compared to what they have done previously. Better than any of them Lily Cole, who has half (or less) of their fame, proven us that she can be a good actress, not just a pretty face... she was much better than some professional actresses with no talent I know, putting a lot of effort into her character. Andrew Garfield was also very good, although his character is not so sympathetic due to his destructive jealousy. Playing a character that we know, in advance, that people will hate is a gesture of professionalism. Tom Waits gave life to a sly, clever and elegantly cheating Devil.Technically, I don't have much to talk about. If it weren't for the scenes inside the mirror and some elaborate costumes, the film would be within ordinary patterns. In fact, that old theater costumes are very interesting and scenes inside the "Imaginarium" were excellent, although it's obvious that it's CGI, and it's not even good CGI. But the worst of this movie wasn't it... it was the way the ending was written. A the end, the film tries to wrap all the narrative and give us a conclusion, but everything is poor and poorly done. Besides, there is no happy ending, but a semi-open ending in which we don't understand half of the things that happened.This movie is good, has good script premises and a good cast. For those who like fantasy, it's probably a "must see". But it's so complex and creative that, in the end, it failed to give us a satisfactory conclusion to the story it created.

tvsweeney-39052 I had never heard of this film until I saw it as a "Coming Attractions" tacked onto another DVD I rented.This fantasy definitely shows the directorial hand of Terry Gwilliam in the acting as well as the sets. That makes it difficult to summarize, so I'm thankful so many others already have...and in detail, too. There's a bit of Faust...and a whole lotta Monty Python in the mix.The entire cast is a good one, doing justice to their roles, and the acting frenetic and fast-paced. It's good to see Verne Troyer in something besides his Mini-Me role. The sets are pure Monty Pythonesque...indeed the entire story is like a dream—not necessarily a bad one, though occasionally clutching at the borders of the nightmarish—definitely one which seems to make sense at the time but upon wakening, can't be described with any coherency. Since Heath Ledger died during filming and was replaced by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law, that line of demarcation is sadly easy to note…about a third into the film. The way the replacement is done is clever and the audience will accept it easily, however.All in all, an entertaining film, clever, frenetic, whimsical, though bordering on indescribable in the graphics of its plot. It's a pity it didn't get more publicity and exposure.Be warned...this is a film which needs to be seen several times to thoroughly understand and enjoy it all. The costumes, the subplots, the dialogue...there's simply too much to savor for one viewing.This DVD was viewed as a rental and no remuneration was involved in the writing of this review.

mark.waltz Going through the world of the battle between good and evil on film has taken its toll on me as I look at the worlds of light and darkness and strive to figure out what are the underlying messages of the creators of films like this that I see. As imaginative as modern movie makers can be with the technology of computer generated effects, it can also be as confusing as the devil's own playground which this seems to be desperate to give viewers a one way ticket to. Even if this does feature an allegedly decent character in Christopher Plummer's Dr. Parnassus, the fantasy story of them fighting to collect souls just strikes me as something spiritually unsound.Thus, I can only look at this for its qualities as a film-through its general story, through its performances and through what it delivers artistically. I can imagine if I had been there in the dinner and have to go to the bathroom, I would never have left my seat. However, on DVD, you can pause it and even walking to the kitchen, you must leave it at the where you left it without missing one second of it. I attribute to how it looks, and the fear that even missing one minute of it could send me scrambling to find my place back and simply taking in every issue as I would a painting in a museum makes it virtually necessary to give its full concentration.Veteran actor Plummer, by all counts, is the leading actor and he shares acting honors with Tom Waits who plays Satan himself. As I have learned through my biblical studies, Satan when he appears is charming, and that is certainly the case here. But Satan is a phony, and it is obvious through looks that way to get through his excellent performance that this man even as tempting as it is can not be trusted at any percentage. Heath Ledger originated the role that is later taken over by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell. It is often perplexing to try to figure out how the character of Tony is played by four actors and who the character actually is.Plummer's deal with the devil however leave me cold with the film overall, why he would even consider giving up the soul of his beautiful daughter to Satan, having dealt with him when he pretended to be a younger man in order to seduce the woman he loved. This shows a lack of moral ambiguity to Plumbers character, and that really doesn't create any sympathy for him. It gives the impression that Hollywood films push the idea of eternal youth and that aging gracefully is not a desirable life.Some moment are perfectly convoluted and even though the film is luscious to look at through an artistic vision, you must be in tuned to some views of the occult to understand where this is trying to go. I don't, no matter how much I open my mind to it, and find many elements of the underlying meanings to be massively disturbing. Reminding me of the same director's "Baron Munchausen" with a bit of "Dante's Inferno" thrown in, I won't praise it for what I felt it was trying to do, but I will give it thumbs up for looking as tasty as it does. The temptation maybe there for me to be taken in by this, but fortunately I am able to resist it.