Movie Review: The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus

I watched The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus the other night with my family. For me, this movie was a definite must-see as it was Heath Ledger's last flick, with his role completed by Johny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Ferrel. It was definitely a triple hitter with the stars. As far as the actual story? Not so much.

On the whole, the movie was a...disappointment.

The concept of this movie is complex, and really never fully explained. From what I gathered the devil and Dr. Parnassus are in an constant "battle" over which is more appealing between seedy sin and the wonders of imagination (it's not quite as corny as it sounds - well, maybe). Everything comes to a head when Dr. Parnassus must give up his daughter unless he wins five souls over to imagination. Yeah. Confusing.

The movie tried to be trippy with shocking colors, wacky computer graphics, and random cross-dressers dancing numbers; however, despite their attempts to overwhelm viewers with wackiness, it was impossible to ignore the lack of cohesive plot or background exposition. To be honest, I spent most of the movie wondering what was going on.

One thing the movie did do well, however, was using Johny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Ferrel to finish Heath Ledger's role. Maybe it was because the movie tried to be trippy, but it actually worked really well to use them all. However, I do wish they would have used Depp more and Ferrel less, but I manage.

So, final evaluation: Remember The Dark Knight as
Ledger's last movie, not this one; the former does him far more justice. However, for those die hard Ledger fans, see it, it wouldn't kill you and it was nice to see him once again.

If you're looking for quality stories about deals with the devil I recommend "The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving; a little more coherent, but maybe that's just me.