The Adventures of Baron Munchausen 1988
I had always heard of this movie, but never got around to seeing it. As a kid and a bigger kid, I liked Monty Python, and Terry Gilliam of that troupe went on to a solid career as a director. This movie is a famous bomb, very expensive to make, but not supported by the studio upon release where it withered and died. Still, it got decent reviews then and still has a good reputation. Though I liked some of Terry Gilliam’s movies, he tends to make things that are more weird than funny, imaginative almost to a fault. And that is certainly the case for this movie. With a big budget there are lots of period costumes, army battles, and tons of water scenes and explosions. It is as if they thought of everything that can cost a lot and threw it in, including elephants. While it is fun to watch, the special effects were still pretty primitive at the time, so while it looks expensive, it also looks pretty fake. And there isn’t really much of a plot, just a series of fantastic set pieces to stage small conflicts and narrow escapes. I would have liked a little more structure and would have enjoyed something funnier instead of just clever. It feels like it was conceived, but not really written, which is why the plot and characters seem flat. Too often things in the movie don’t make any sense, like at the end when the title character dies, only to turn out not to be dead? It is a little chaotic and tiring, especially when Robin Williams shows up as a disembodied moon king. While I respect the creativity and effort that went into the movie, I feel like it was poorly executed and the end result is disappointing.
Written: 26 Jun 2022