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The Adventures of Baron Munchausen  (8)  £4.97

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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.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews   Outstanding film - average edition..., 10 April 2008 By  Ian Armer (Lancashire, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews       'Munchausen' is a truly great film. It's Terry Gilliam's finest film (debatable) and certainly - in terms of production - the most controversial. The film - for those unfamiliar - tells the tall tale of the Baron attempting to save a beseiged city from the Turkish army and end a war he claims responsibility for. In order to do so, the aged Baron must quest to find his faithful servants whilst accompanied by Sally Salt - the child protagonist and main focus of the movie. For 2 hours you are treated to a spectacularly lavish fantasy world from a trip to the moon in a balloon made of knickers, to the pit of a smouldering volcano, the belly of a whale and then to an amazing final battle in which everything, but death, can be finally conquered. The film is an examination of the merits of fantasy and imagination over logic and 'reality'. It's also - if anything - a film about women. The male characters in Munchausen are all blustering fools or imasculated 'touchy feely' types that have lost what vitality they once had and have slipped into old age, or divinity, or politics with little sense of self left. Munchausen is a liar who childishly ages with every passing emotion, desperate to keep hold of the past. His companions are deluded and put upon, having little faith in themselves or the Baron and his attempts to save the city. In every mini-adventure, it is the women that save the day. This role reversal of gender stereotypes speaks volumes and I'm amazed nobody else has picked up on the theme. At the end of the day, through the ages of women on show to the various men - it is Sally Salt who is the 'perfect ideal' of womanhood, even over Venus herself. And it is this ideal that helps the men find themselves once more. I don't even know if Gilliam realises the subtext of his own film as it goes unmentioned in the excellent commentary (some rubbish about Thatcher and Iraq is given instead by the increasingly forgetful Gilliam and McKeown) or in the 70 minute documentary on disc 2 of this release. Unfortunately, as wonderful as the film is, the 'spectacular' double disc release is pretty average. A bitchy (swear filled - parents take note) documentary on the making of the film is interesting, but the deleted scenes are so-so and unless you really want to hear Gilliam and McKeown act out voice overs to drawing for cut scenes, there's very little else on here to recommend. I can't say that I've noticed any major difference on the print used for this release. Still, it's worth the price for fact that the film is a classic, you get the very funny commentary and find out what the horse went onto after making this film.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) › See all customer reviews...		Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews