The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Former Monty Pythoner Terry Gilliam's 1989 fantasy adventure The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a somewhat rambling epic—revolving around a motley crew of 18th-century superheroes—in which the parts are greater than the whole. Using a film-within-a-play framing device, the story opens with a stage production of the titular baron's larger-than-life adventures being interrupted by a man (John Neville) claiming to be the real Munchausen. As he tells the audience the “true” story of his picaresque travels (which even take him to the Moon), we watch the events unfold as the baron and his cohorts outwit (essentially rob) a sultan and then defend a German village during a subsequent attack by the ticked-off Turkish hordes. The baron's multi-talented gang include world's-fastest-man Berthold (Eric Idle), comically helium-voiced and super-sighted Adolphus (co-writer Charles McKeown), strongman Albrecht (Winston Dennis), gale-strength-blowing Gustavus (Jack Purvis),and young stowaway Sally (a 10-year-old Sarah Polley). Over the course of his travels, the baron meets a wide variety of colorful characters, such as Robin Williams' madly ad-libbing king of the moon, Oliver Reed's wonderful Vulcan, and Uma Thurman's radiant Venus. The narrative, unfortunately, feels both bloated and unfocused as the film careens wildly from one set-piece to the next, but some of those scenes are simply marvelous thanks to Gilliam's visually over-the-top signature style. Presented in both standard DVD and Blu-ray, this 20th anniversary edition features audio commentary by Gilliam and McKeown, a fine 72-minute retrospective three-part documentary, deleted scenes, storyboard sequences (with humorous narration by Gilliam and McKeown), and—on the Blu-ray version—a trivia track. The image quality (on both versions) is variable: excellent during many interior and close-up shots (gorgeous on Blu-ray) but grainy and a bit murky on some exterior scenes. While not top-drawer Gilliam, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen has its undeniable pleasures, making this a strong optional purchase. (R. Pitman)