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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
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Reviews Counted:97
Fresh:61
Rotten:36
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Terry Gilliam remains as indulgent as ever, but The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus represents a return to the intoxicatingly imaginative, darkly beautiful power of his earlier work, with fine performances to match all the visual spectacle.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating]
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Theatrical Release:Dec 25, 2009 Limited
Synopsis: In THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS, director Terry Gilliam continues the trippy tradition he began with inventive films such as TIME BANDITS and BRAZIL. This time, he reteams with Heath Ledger... [More]
Starring: Heath Ledger, Christopher Plummer, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield
Director: Terry Gilliam
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Reviews for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
| Tomatometer | Critic | Review | Category |
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 5/5 |
a massive sprawling explosion of a film, rife with hyperbolic visuals, and a story that dares to consider the contradictions of good and evil as played out in the hearts and minds of every human being on the planet Full Review |
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B |
It exemplifies both the strengths and the shortcomings for which director Terry Gilliam has become known. Full Review |
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B+ |
Director Terry Gilliam is back in fine fantasy form, after a series of critical and commercial failures... Full Review |
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4/5 |
The result is not just a filmmaker retracing the Faustian elements of his career but something far more poignant than he could have ever imagined in a film appropriately labeled as coming from 'Heath Ledger and friends.' Full Review |
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Click to read the article Full Review |
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No review available.
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 0.5/4 |
diary of an artist who keeps trying to amaze when no one's paying attention anymore Full Review |
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3.5/5 |
Gilliam is concerned primarily with out-Gilliaming himself. Full Review |
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1/4 |
Parnassus continues Gilliam's decade-old habit of sabotaging his work by piling on wild images without regard to character development or storytelling. Full Review |
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3.5/5 |
Whichever way you choose to look at it, it's a trippy couple of hours at the theatre. Full Review |
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D+ |
Remains steadfastly tedious, noisy, and incomprehensible, only cushioned from total disaster by Gilliam's sporadically comforting visual fetishes. Full Review |
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3/4 |
Not up to the very best work of either Gilliam or Ledger, but it's a surprisingly satisfying coda to the latter's all-too-brief career. Full Review |
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3/4 |
Though rambling and at times self-indulgent, its wit and pageantry, boosted by Heath Ledger's final performance, render it irresistible. Full Review |
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It meanders and jaywalks according to its own confused rhythms, and the suggestion is that if we don't get it -- or if we get bored -- we're just not clued in to Gilliam's genius. Full Review |
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2/5 |
It's hard to bear this film much ill will but it doesn't really work, apart from a couple vividly imagined set pieces. Mostly it just ambles along, like a scavenger hunt with an ill-defined search list, before collapsing in on itself in a finale of utter Full Review |
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1/5 |
A morality tale about the consequences of making deals with the devil that has some visual flare but doesn't really hold together. Full Review |
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B- |
As is so often the case since his Monty Python days, Gilliam is best at visual games and weakest at storytelling. Full Review |
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6/10 |
While a movie that is deeply flawed and ultimately fails, Parnassus is at least watchable, unlike Gilliam's last film, the wretched Tideland. Full Review |
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B+ |
Gilliam is Parnassus, carrying his tatterdemalion show forward from year to year and trying to get people to pay attention, and the mingled sense of bitterness and hope in his story makes this whole crazed fantasy into something far more real. Full Review |
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Once an exciting and daring filmmaker, Gilliam is now making movies that threaten to put their audiences to sleep. Ask your doctor if Parnassus is right for you. Full Review |
CommentLatest News for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
December 23, 2009:
Critics Consensus: Sherlock Holmes Is Worth Investigating
This week at the movies, we've got a legendary detective (Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law); matriculating rodents (Alvin and the Chipmunks: The... More...
October 25, 2009:
Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
He's known as Captain Chaos and his productions are notoriously problematic. Brazil (1985) almost never saw the light of day when battles raged over final cut. On The Adventures... More...
October 25, 2009:
Trailer & Poster review 
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October 18, 2009:
See Doctor Parnassus and chat to Terry Gilliam
It's the film audiences around the world have been curious about: Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, snatched from the jaws of disaster after one of its... More...
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