The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

Terry Gilliam likes his movies fantastical and quirky and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is no exception. Despite his successes, Gilliam is also known for his string of unfortunate production problems. Again, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is no exception.

This is the movie where Heath Ledger died during a filming break. Upon Ledger's death production shut down until Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Ferrell stepped up to take over Ledger's role. Magically, this role sharing actually works with the story.

Ledger was playing Tony, a man found hanging from a bridge in London by the gypsy-like performing group of the 1,000-year old Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer). Tony stays with the group as they go around inviting people into Doctor Parnassus' Imaginarium. Like the name implies, inside people can experience worlds of their own imagination, but it's also where Parnassus can collect their souls. Soon the group has to hurry to capture five souls before Mr. Nick (Tom Waits) does. It's an alternate to Parnassus' old deal with Nick that required him to surrender his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole) to Nick on her sixteenth birthday.

No doubt the film is wacky. It's part of the fun. But eventually it flounders before it reaches the end and any concern I had for the characters was gone just when it was called for most. It's really too bad. The cast does a nice job. I especially look forward to seeing more of Lily Cole and Andrew Garfield (another member of the Parnassus group) in other films. And of course there's Ledger. Ledger had reached new levels as The Joker in The Dark Knight and he was still going strong in this movie.

Rating: 3/5

Recommended for: Anyone who wants to see Heath Ledger in one more movie

Extended Review: At certain points it seems like Ledger is channeling Johnny Depp (especially Jack Sparrow Johnny Depp). So when Depp is the first to play Ledger, there's a great symbiosis.