Fantastical Movie Monday

In the past week I've seen not one, but two, fantastical films. And while I'd love to say that they were both fantastic, mainly I want to say that they were fantasy films. Quite good each in its way, but probably not "fantastic," per se.

First there was "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (not at all to be confused with "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" from a couple of years ago), which is a Terry Gilliam movie about good versus evil. Okay, so it's not really about good versus evil, it's actually about this guy named Doctor Parnassus who has made a deal with the devil and the wager is coming due. But it's not really about that, either, because it's actually about the people around him who get wrapped up in it all. Maybe.

You see, it's a Terry Gilliam movie. Gilliam was one of the members of "Monty Python" and has directed a lot of pretty seriously odd movies. He directed "Brazil" and "Time Bandits" and "The Brothers Grimm" and "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" and, yes, the incredibly ill-fated "The Man who Killed Don Quixote" which (in his first attempt) was completely shelved due to acts of God.

So, with all that in mind, you might not be surprised to know that one of the actors in "The Imaginarium" is Heath Ledger. And, since Ledger died before the movie was finished, the same character is also played by Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell. Don't worry. In the movie the fact that they all play the same character actually makes more sense than some things.

But, well, 2 out of 3 of us who went were all set for Gilliam, and we quite enjoyed the show. Unfortunately, 1 out of 3 of us hadn't ever seen a Gilliam film. Her vote for a movie for this week, after having survived Gilliam last week? Dinner.

Fantastical movie number 2 of the week was the latest incarnation of "Alice in Wonderland" as imagined by Tim Burton. Assuming you've seen at least one of the trailers, you should already know that Alice, in this version, is a grown-up in a very stately - and grounded - family. In fact, she finds herself chasing the White Rabbit as a way to get away from her own engagement party. And, from there, things get a bit... well... curious.

The one thing that all of us agreed upon after the movie was that we really enjoyed the way the movie approached the changes. There is an incredible blending of what we all already know about Wonderland, and what we still have to learn about it. There really aren't any new characters added in - and why should there be when the cast was so amazingly drawn in the books by Lewis Carroll (almost 150 years ago)?

I know it just came out, so I don't want to give any spoilers. Here's the thing: There were a few pieces of special effects that I thought were trying too hard, but overall it was really a good movie. Not a kids' movie, by any stretch (which I think some of the parents of small children in the audience realized about half-way through), it's definitely great for getting anyone's imagination going.

Overall ratings: "The Imaginarium" - B+ (Even for Gilliam it was a bit flawed in sections.) "Alice" - A- (Maybe it's because I had lower expectations, but - a day later - I'm continuing to find new reasons that I liked it.)