Review of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) by Ryan S — 15 Jun 2012

One of the greatest adventure/fantasy/comedy films I have ever seen. It's like Terry Gilliam can do no wrong. I was reading that there were many production issues with money concerns and such, but you could never tell.

Gilliam takes you to the world with Muchausen and it just becomes non-stop fun. With the fun, there's also depth to the scenes. The scene on the moon was spot on. The King (played hilariously by Robin Williams) has a head detached from his body.

He would rather it be this way. With them separated, he can think and do better things. But when his head's attached to his body all he wants is to eat and have sex. There are plenty of times we would want to detach our heads from our bodies.

And of course I really liked the opening where they were doing the play about Baron Munchausen then he crashes the play saying he's real. No one believes him, so he takes them on a journey through one of his stories, which ends up coming to life.

We learn how the Turks want to kill him for stealing all of their gold, then when the story's over the Turk's are actually attacking the city. This is where the story goes. Sally Salt's father dies in the attack and she decides to follow Munchausen to get reinforcements to save the city.

This film felt more like The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus more than any of his other films. Of course it has the wackiness of Brazil and comedy of Monty Python. You can always feel the Gilliam touch on his films.

Even though there's something crazy going on, he guides you so that you can have fun and feel the genuine heart beating under the surface. Come into it in the middle and you might not understand what you're watching.

The King of the moon that separates his head from his body? A hot air balloon made out of women's underwear? A god married to Venus and Venus dancing in the sky with Munchausen? Being trapped in a fish and playing cards with death? Munchausen's crew is also weird.

You have the guy that blows so hard he knocks everyone back, a guy who's a perfect shot from far distances, the strongest man in the world, and a guy that can run really fast. It's all just such fun.

Sally joins the adventure as a brave little girl and seems a little frightened, but she can get through anything with Munchausen by her side. I absolutely loved it!