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The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

post #1 of 13
4/14/08 at 9:50am
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I grabbed the DVD last week, and watched this twice over the weekend. It had been at least 15 years since the last time I saw it, but always remembered it fondly from my childhood.

This has to be the least appreciated Gilliam film, likely due to the stigma from being such a huge bomb when it was first released. I remember during the initial theatrical release my parents refusing to take me to see it because of the terrible word of mouth. And it's a damn shame that the movie still seems to carry it's failure and not found a bigger audience.

The set design is absolutely beautiful, especially the incredibly bizarre Moon. The cast is packed to the gills with a smoking hot barely legal Uma Thurman, a (very) young Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed in a hilarious small part as Vulcan, and Johnathan Pryce is great as usual. John Neville is truly fun to watch. The role had to be the most fun he had, and it shows on screen.

One thing that always stuck with me in the time between viewings was Death. The design for Death is really great (that red hair!), and every time he shows up it is a bit of a jolt to the movie. Right when you think it might be dragging Death shows up to kick start it again.
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post #2 of 13
4/14/08 at 10:10am
I think this movie is genius. A strong contender for Gilliam's best. I know it has a stigma, and that even Gilliam has misgivings about it, but it just works so much better than Time Bandits. The Death creature is a good example of this movie doing something a lot of movie have already done and making it original and effective. And I love the bombastic score.
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post #3 of 13
4/14/08 at 10:12am
I love this movie to death. Anyone seen the HD Version? Does it hold up?
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post #4 of 13
4/14/08 at 12:26pm
I have the original release, and now it's time to upgrade. I kept hoping for a Criterion deluxe version, but... oh well...
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post #5 of 13
4/14/08 at 12:28pm
I'm reviewing this for CHUD soon. I loved it when I was a kid, and I'm wondering how it will hold up.
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post #6 of 13
4/14/08 at 12:49pm
Fuck! Totally forgot to pick this up on sale last week. Looks like I'm going to have to shell out an extra $3.
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post #7 of 13
4/14/08 at 1:15pm
I knew there was a new DVD coming out, just didn't know it was out already. I remember the joy I felt when I finally got a copy of Kamen's score for this, it completely fits the style of the film.
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post #8 of 13
4/14/08 at 1:16pm
Thread Starter 
Just a note to anyone searching for this at Best Buy. They stuck it in action for some weird reason. I spent 20 minutes digging through comedy and drama.
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post #9 of 13
4/15/08 at 4:35am
I still vivedly remember Dad taking us kids to the cinemas to see this and it has been one of the families favourite films ever since.

Just a visually sumptuous, cavalcade of Gilliamness. This will always be my favourite piece from the yank Python.
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post #10 of 13
4/16/08 at 11:41pm
Great movie. Also, read the making-of book - Andrew Yule's Losing the Light - it's a terribly depressing, yet weirdly fascinating story.

Is the documentary any good?
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post #11 of 13
4/9/11 at 8:44am

I loved this as a kid, but watching it again I was surprised at how generally messy it was. I think the tone and style of the piece are great, but the episodic nature means that the film often feels like it's lacking momentum. There doesn't seem to be any overall narrative thrust and as such the film often feels like a loose collection of sketches rather than an actual film.

 

I do think that Oliver Reed's performance as Vulcan might be one of my favourite Gilliam moments ever though, he just injects that character with so much life and energy that he's a joy to watch. I kind of love his attempts at explaining an Atomic Weapon to Munchausen, he's also in the film for just the right amount of time. In contract Robin Williams almost feels like a cancer within the film, his ten minutes of screentime really feels like it bogs the entire movie down. 

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post #12 of 13
4/9/11 at 2:25pm

Especially when you consider that the role was supposed to go to Sean Connery and one considers how different the whole Moon segment would have been.  For me this film is about John Neville having the time of his life and Sarah Polly showing why she was destined to be more than a child actor.

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post #13 of 13
4/9/11 at 2:39pm

I haven't seen it for about a decade but I remember noticing the loose narrative Spike mentions and loving that part of it just the same as all the other parts. Or at least whole-heartedly forgiving it.

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