The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is one of those films that you either love or hate. You may hate it because the inner child in you has not been released. You may love it because the inner child in you have full reign and want a wonderful fairy tale. This film has all the elements, flying ships (A balloon made of ladies knickers), monsters (A gigantic whale that looks like an island), and a little girl observing all the fantastical adventures. A city is under siege and a theater troupe is trying to perform a play during all of this. In comes an elderly man (The wonderful John Neville)who claims that the troupe has it all wrong and that he, himself, is the real Baron and wants to tell the story straight. From there, his adventure really takes off. He and Sally (The cute as a button Sarah Polley)go off in search of his friends to help save the city: Berthold (Clever Eric Idle), the fastest man around; Albrecht, the strongest man in the world; Adolphus, the man with the sharpest sight around and Gustavus, the man with the keen hearing and breath that can blow elephants off their feet. The gangs adventures bring them to the Moon, where the King (Wild as ever Robin Williams)has trouble holding on to his head, to the Underworld, where Venus (Beautiful Uma Thurman)drives her hubby Vulcan (The wonderful Oliver Reed) insane with jealousy. The story and the visuals (Especially the Moon) are beautiful and the ending is interesting. You get so caught up in the story that the viewer gets lost in what is real and what is not. Great for teens and up. Kids may get scared at some of the scenes.
Review of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
