Stream it:
|
Own it:
|
With: John Neville, Eric Idle, Sarah Polley, Oliver Reed, Charles McKeown, Winston Dennis, Jack Purvis, Valentina Cortese, Jonathan Pryce, Bill Paterson, Peter Jeffrey, Uma Thurman, Alison Steadman, Ray Cooper, Don Henderson, Robin Williams, Sting
|
Written by: Charles McKeown, Terry Gilliam
|
Directed by: Terry Gilliam
|
MPAA Rating: PG
|
Running Time: 126
|
|
Date: 12/07/1988
|
|
|
|
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989)
Lies and Balderdash
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
A huge flop, Terry Gilliam's epic comedy/fantasy The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989) began with the idea of a spinner of tall tales, Baron Munchausen (John Neville), and took it in nearly every direction possible. The baron's yarns include a trip to the moon via balloon, aging in reverse, a giant sea monster, dancing on air, and brushes with the Angel of Death. Gilliam's extraordinary visuals are far deeper and more cockeyed than nearly any other filmmaker (except maybe Fellini); a former animator for Monty Python, he seems unaware of any kind of physical limitations in the film medium. It's easy to see how the production spun out of control, going over budget, never able to recoup its costs. Nine year-old Sarah Polley co-stars, with Eric Idle, Jonathan Pryce (also in Gilliam's Brazil), Oliver Reed, and uncredited Robin Williams as the King of the Moon. Uma Thurman makes a memorable entrance as the goddess Venus, inside a giant shell.
In 2023, the Criterion Collection released a glorious new Blu-ray edition (as well as a 4K edition). The Blu-ray is a two-disc set, with the first containing only the film (with optional subtitles) and a commentary track recorded in 2008 by director Gilliam and actor/writer Charles McKeown. Disc Two includes a huge treasure trove of extras, including behind-the-scenes featurettes on the film, the visual FX, deleted scenes, storyboards for unfilmed scenes, marketing, etc. There's a new video essay by David Cairns, a TV interview with Gilliam, and an early short animated film by Gilliam. Michael Koresky provides the liner notes essay. Highly recommended.
|
