In an attempt to win the heart of an immortal woman, Dr. Parnassus, makes a bargain with the devil to give him youth and takes his son or daughter, when they are 16, but when his daughter is about to be 16, Parnsuss thinks of a trick to save her.
Parnassus is fun to watch a good deal of the time, and Gilliam is almost always visually surprising, but Ledger could have used a more momentous send-off.
The film is flawed, but you don't expect narrative drive or coherence; you go for the director's flights of fantasy. Possessed of an imagination that throws off more sparks than a fizzing, spinning Catherine Wheel, Gilliam is a fabulous fabulist.
Terry Gilliam, the veteran film director who cut his teeth as the animation wizard of television's legendary Monty Python's Flying Circus, has flirted with genius throughout his career, and bedded her from time to time. In The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnas
I don't think it's such a big heresy to say that Terry Gilliam is both a genius and an annoyingly full-of-it director who's coasting on the goodwill he earned with Brazil.
Shot through with a bold, extravagant generosity of spirit, this journey behind the literal and figurative looking glass marks a gratifying return to form for Gilliam, whose recent films haven't quite lived up to his capacities.
It teases with magnificently tantalizing moments that don't quite add up to one grand insight. Which, come to think of it, is an epiphany of its own peculiar sort.
Dallas Morning News
January 08, 2010
When it's all done we're left with another recent Gilliam trademark: the highly imaginative mess.
Las Vegas CityLife
January 31, 2011
a confusing mess. ... a promising set-up assembled with bits and pieces of Gilliam's brilliance, but he clearly did not wake up in the middle of the night with a brilliant vision
One of the greatest motion pictures ever. From its astounding themes to its brilliant cast, stunning design to enchanting score, undeniable smarts to lasting significance, this is Cinéma! Buy this movie. View this movie. Marry this movie. I have spoken.
Film.com
May 06, 2011
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus is one of those movies that, despite spectacular elements, doesn't add up to a spectacular film.
