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Amazon.co.uk review
Monty Python's Terry Gilliam (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Brazil) directs this wild and wonderful version of the stories of Baron Munchausen, pushing the limits of 1989 special effects technology to bring us such sights as a horse divided in half and running around in two parts, and a giant Robin Williams with his head flying off his shoulders. Basically, this is a treat for Gilliam fans, as the sustaining idea of the film runs out of steam, and manic energy alone keeps the momentum going. Casual viewers might find it tedious after a while. There are nice parts for fellow Python Eric Idle, as well as Sting, Alison Steadman and Uma Thurman as a dazzlingly beautiful Venus on a half-shell. Gilliam had greater artistic and commercial success with Brazil, The Fisher King, and 12 Monkeys. --Tom Keogh
Synopsis
In Time Bandits, director Terry Gilliam told a fantastical story filled with heroes and villains as seen through the eyes of a small boy. In Brazil, he focused on a fantasy world created by a young man trapped in a totalitarian state. With The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Gilliam tells the legend of an old man who has lived a fairy-tale life. In the late 18th century, the Age of Reason has no room for fantasy. In a town besieged by murderous enemies, a travelling company is putting on a stage show about the apocryphal Baron Munchausen, who, with his motley crew of servants, supposedly circled the globe and the universe, following each bizarre adventure with one even more strange and ludicrous. But then a man appears at the theatre claiming to be the real Baron, and to prove it, he goes off on one final journey to save the town, chased all the way by the winged spectre of death.
Gilliam never met an epic spectacle he didn't like. Munchausen is loaded with brilliant set pieces, including spinning heads on the moon and a giant Botticelli clamshell in the bottom of a hellish volcano. Gilliam has assembled a stellar cast, including John Neville as the Baron, Oliver Reed as Vulcan, Jonathan Pryce (Brazil), Jack Purvis (Wally in Time Bandits), Robin Williams (credited as Ray D. Tutto), Eric Idle (who contributes 'The Torturer's Apprentice' with Michael Kamen to the soundtrack), Charles McKeown (Life of Brian), a cameo by Sting, and early appearances by Sarah Polley (as young Sally Salt) and Uma Thurman. Gilliam's special effects bonanza is a modern retelling of The Wizard of Oz, a fabulous adventure filled with daring feats, preposterous nonsense, danger galore and the overall belief that a world without fantasy is a sad world indeed.
Gilliam never met an epic spectacle he didn't like. Munchausen is loaded with brilliant set pieces, including spinning heads on the moon and a giant Botticelli clamshell in the bottom of a hellish volcano. Gilliam has assembled a stellar cast, including John Neville as the Baron, Oliver Reed as Vulcan, Jonathan Pryce (Brazil), Jack Purvis (Wally in Time Bandits), Robin Williams (credited as Ray D. Tutto), Eric Idle (who contributes 'The Torturer's Apprentice' with Michael Kamen to the soundtrack), Charles McKeown (Life of Brian), a cameo by Sting, and early appearances by Sarah Polley (as young Sally Salt) and Uma Thurman. Gilliam's special effects bonanza is a modern retelling of The Wizard of Oz, a fabulous adventure filled with daring feats, preposterous nonsense, danger galore and the overall belief that a world without fantasy is a sad world indeed.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
Sometimes you despair. A new format is trust upon us - and an opportunity is presented to the movie industry to finally to do the business by their classics - and what do they do - they give us the same old dull stock and rip us off by getting us to pay more for it.
Twenty years on, Terry Gilliam's 1989 fantasy epic is still extraordinary - inventive, funny, touching, and on a scale few movies today would even dare to go near. Unfortunately, the transfer of it to the new format is more Blur-Ray than Blu-Ray. And while it's not awful all the way through - it's not far off it. For large parts of the film there's grain and blocking - the colours in some instances are better for sure - but it's also obvious that little or no restoration has been done to the print - when like "Time Bandits" - here is a fantasy film that is crying out for a clean up - and would surely have been much more commercially viable if it had been cleaned up - and a big deal made of it (even a re-launch in the cinemas?).
The extras mimic the special edition DVD issue - reviewed elsewhere - nothing great.
When you see "Cool Hand Luke" or "Zulu" or "2001: A Space Odyssey" on BLU RAY, the clean up work is immediately apparent and evident throughout the entire film - making them an enjoyable 'spot-the-difference' experience for the whole duration. But you know you're in trouble with "Munchausen" the second the washed out "Columbia" logo comes up at the beginning - I've seen crinkled videotape look better than this. What a huge disappointment and what a disservice to a really great fantasy film. I can only think of the gobsmacking beauty of Uma Thurman as she appears in a seashell to cheer myself up...
Unfortunately this release is why Amazon reviews are necessary. Avoid this overly expensive poor reissue unless you absolutely have to own it...
Twenty years on, Terry Gilliam's 1989 fantasy epic is still extraordinary - inventive, funny, touching, and on a scale few movies today would even dare to go near. Unfortunately, the transfer of it to the new format is more Blur-Ray than Blu-Ray. And while it's not awful all the way through - it's not far off it. For large parts of the film there's grain and blocking - the colours in some instances are better for sure - but it's also obvious that little or no restoration has been done to the print - when like "Time Bandits" - here is a fantasy film that is crying out for a clean up - and would surely have been much more commercially viable if it had been cleaned up - and a big deal made of it (even a re-launch in the cinemas?).
The extras mimic the special edition DVD issue - reviewed elsewhere - nothing great.
When you see "Cool Hand Luke" or "Zulu" or "2001: A Space Odyssey" on BLU RAY, the clean up work is immediately apparent and evident throughout the entire film - making them an enjoyable 'spot-the-difference' experience for the whole duration. But you know you're in trouble with "Munchausen" the second the washed out "Columbia" logo comes up at the beginning - I've seen crinkled videotape look better than this. What a huge disappointment and what a disservice to a really great fantasy film. I can only think of the gobsmacking beauty of Uma Thurman as she appears in a seashell to cheer myself up...
Unfortunately this release is why Amazon reviews are necessary. Avoid this overly expensive poor reissue unless you absolutely have to own it...
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
Others have expressed disappointment with the BluRay edition of Baron Munchausen, which made me hesitate to buy it. I'm glad I overcame my hesitations. I have now watched the BluRay edition twice (once for the film itself, once for Gilliam's narration) and am looking forward to future viewings. Fine rendering of color, the image very crisp, improved sound track. The Venus scene, the climb to the tip of the waning moon, the wrecks of ships inside the sea monster -- a treat in each case to see these in BluRay. The film itself, it has been a favorite for years, but it always made me aware of the limitations of DVD. In light of wars in progress, Munchausen is more timely than ever.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
Having seen the film many years ago and thought it was brilliant I noticed the film was out in blue ray I thought it must be a lot better than the original, wrong, most films I have watched in blue ray are amazing but not this one. It still rates as one of the best entertaining films I have seen though.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Languages and subtitles
Feature Picture: High definition Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1)
Audio: English TrueHD 5.1, Hungarian 5.1, Spanish TrueHD 5. Read more
Audio: English TrueHD 5.1, Hungarian 5.1, Spanish TrueHD 5. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2010 by Kristof Bolckmans
A film with a message
This film introduces us to Baron Muenchausen, a forgotten heroic figure in the new "Age of Reason" in the late 18th Century. Read more
Published on 4 Jan 2010 by Mr. E. MCFARLANE
Childhood sentiment
For starters, this movie is not fit for BluRay, Have said that i can say that this is one of the movies i have loved since i was a young man. Read more
Published on 6 Dec 2009 by G. J. Oosterman
"What will become of the Baron?"
21 years after the off-screen battles are over and unrealistic expectations have all been exorcised, Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen looks really rather... Read more
Published on 21 Oct 2009 by Trevor Willsmer
A cast of thousands! Elephants!! Hot air baloons!!! The Sultan bested...
OK, I recently reviewed Brazil - another Terry Gilliam movie - and said that it's the best movie of the 20th century. Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2009 by Crookedmouth
Bonkers and Beautiful
I remember watching this film as a child and being terrified and excited at the same time. If I wasn't absolutly certain a might actually have struggled to decide whether I'd... Read more
Published on 9 July 2008 by Graeme Loveridge
Outstanding film - average edition...
'Munchausen' is a truly great film. It's Terry Gilliam's finest film (debatable) and certainly - in terms of production - the most controversial. Read more
Published on 10 April 2008 by Ian Armer
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