If you've seen any other Terry Gilliam movie, you'll instantly realize "The Adventures of Baron Manchausen" represents his artistic vision at its most prominent - over-the-top sets, wacky larger-than-life characters, an absurd fantasy plot line rooted in children's tales (like the upcoming Gilliam film "The Brothers Grimm"), and so on and so forth.
I had heard some bad things about this film. For starters, it was so poorly received on initial release that Gilliam took a hiatus from film-making and was depressed enough that he didn't want to make another movie until "12 Monkeys" came along (this is chronicled in the excellent documentary, "The Hamster Factor," included on the "Monkeys" DVD). It went way over budget (I believe somewhere around $50 million altogether, a huge amount at the time) and flopped in theaters. It wasn't received well by critics or audiences.
Seen now, it fits nicely into Gilliam's vision as a director. It has ties to "Time Bandits," Monty Python (Eric Idle's in this as well), "Brazil" and even "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." The plot is often overwhelmed by the visuals, but that happens with many fairytale stories - the story isn't as important as the world the characters are living in. Gilliam brings the world to life and it's a real shame a film as unique and daring as this took him out of film-making for seven years. (Granted, "The Fisher King" was made before "12 Monkeys," but it's the least Gilliam-ish of all his films - and ironically it remains his biggest hit at the box office.)
I had heard some bad things about this film. For starters, it was so poorly received on initial release that Gilliam took a hiatus from film-making and was depressed enough that he didn't want to make another movie until "12 Monkeys" came along (this is chronicled in the excellent documentary, "The Hamster Factor," included on the "Monkeys" DVD). It went way over budget (I believe somewhere around $50 million altogether, a huge amount at the time) and flopped in theaters. It wasn't received well by critics or audiences.
Seen now, it fits nicely into Gilliam's vision as a director. It has ties to "Time Bandits," Monty Python (Eric Idle's in this as well), "Brazil" and even "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." The plot is often overwhelmed by the visuals, but that happens with many fairytale stories - the story isn't as important as the world the characters are living in. Gilliam brings the world to life and it's a real shame a film as unique and daring as this took him out of film-making for seven years. (Granted, "The Fisher King" was made before "12 Monkeys," but it's the least Gilliam-ish of all his films - and ironically it remains his biggest hit at the box office.)