A Fabulously Inventive & Moving Film Given A Washed Out Transfer Onto Blu-Ray...
(THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE "BLU-RAY" VERSION OF THIS FILM)
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 2008 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...
Brilliant fantasy for all ages
The best fairy tales have as many -- if not even more -- lessons for adults as they do for kids. "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen," directed by former Monty Pythonite Terry Gilliam, is a great example of this.
Mining a rarely tapped vein of German fantasy lore, the movie brings to life its unlikely hero in the form of a middle-aged, at times elderly, German nobleman. Munchausen wanders the world -- and occasionally places above and below -- seeking outrageous adventures with his marvelous companions: Albrecht, the strongest man alive; Berthold, the fastest man alive; Adolphus, who has amazing vision; and Gustavus, who has incredible hearing and powerful lungs.
In the movie, an elderly Munchausen disrupts a theatrical production of his adventures in a 17th century city under seige by invading Turks. Munchausen's efforts to set the record straight are in turn disrupted by a cannon assault, and his attempt to quietly die in the theater's ruins are interrupted by...
Remarkable. Unbelievable. Impossible. And true
The Age of Reason. A time when men are ruled by logic and emotions have no place. Fantasy is dead. Where does such frivolous things belong in the world today?
But their is always a place for war. And a city is besieged by the Turks, heroism met with death instead of cheers. Why? It's not rational. Even though the government frowns on it, the common people turn to fantasy to forget their woes. The theater is putting on a production of 'The Adventures of Baron Munchausen', much to the Baron's chagrin. And so begins an adventure where the aged baron, longing to die then live in a world that has no use for him, goes to end the war because a little girl believes in him.
Along the way he'll find old friends, travel to the moon, inside a volcano, the belly of a giant fish and occasionally delight us with a tale of adventures past.
This delightful film is a marvelous treat for both young and old. The cast is delightfully filled with John Neville as Baron Munchausen, the wonderful Eric...
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