Premise: There's a travelling theater company with weird supernatural powers or something...
If there was ever a movie where I should be given a pass on having to explain it, I think this would be it. First of all, it's a Terry Gilliam movie. He is unparalleled in his ability to follow his whims wherever they take them. His films all play like a clock that was taken apart then put back together all wrong yet somehow still works. Now, combine that with Heath Ledger's death during filming, which caused them to rework the imaginarium scenes to be played by Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Collin Farrell instead. The result is a movie I gave up on really understanding pretty early.
I'm really glad this got Oscar nominations for the Art Direction and Costume Design, because those are the stars of the movie. This movie looks great. The more practical the effects in the Imaginarium, the better. I sure loved the zany layout of their travelling stage/home. This is such a fun movie to just look at.
None of the performances really stuck out. I spent much of the movie aware that this was as old as I'd ever see Heath Ledger in a movie, which was sad. I enjoyed seeing Andrew Garfield show up in a movie before I had any idea who he was. I'm a little surprised I haven't seen Lily Cole pop up in more projects. She was pretty young in this movie and she was OK. It seems like I would've seen her in a couple more things over the last decade than bit parts. Christopher Plummer seems to be having a good time, and this is one of the better roles for Verne Troyer.
For all the publicity about the plan to use different actors for the remaining parts of the movie left to shoot, I always thought much less of the film had already been shot before Heath Ledger's death. Law, Farrell, and Depp are basically cameo roles though filling in got Ledger. The movie does well enough explaining why Ledger isn't always in the Imaginarium. More importantly, the edited around what they had with Ledger well enough that I couldn't see the strings, so to speak. I think the editor earned their wages for this one.
There really is no reason to catch up on this movie other than the Heath Ledger backstory, but if
you find yourself watching it anyway, there are worse ways to spend your time.
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
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