Synopsis
An account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences with his band of misfits.
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Cast
- John NevilleHieronymus Karl Frederick Baron von Munchausen
- Eric IdleDesmond / Berthold
- Sarah PolleySally Salt
- Oliver ReedVulcan
- Charles McKeownRupert / Adolphus
- Winston DennisBill / Albrecht
- Jack PurvisJeremy / Gustavus
- Valentina CorteseQueen Ariadne / Violet
- Jonathan PryceThe Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson
- Bill PatersonHenry Salt
Recommendations
- 90
Washington Post
Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen is a wondrous feat of imagination. In terms of sheer inventiveness, it makes the other movies around these days look paltry and underfed. The worlds Gilliam has created here are like the ones he created in his animations for Monty Python -- they have a majestic peculiarity. And you're constantly amazed by the freshness and eccentricity of what is pushed in front of your eyes. - 90
Washington Post
Terry Gilliam is the wit behind this lavish display of sieges, sea-creature tussles and trips to the moon. Adapting the handed-down stories of Baron Von Munchausen, an 18th-century spinner of tall tales, this modern maker of similar flights of fancy has created another brilliantly inventive epic of fantasy and satire. - 80
The New York Times
With their remarkable contributions, ''Baron Munchausen'' is full of moments that dazzle, just for the fun of seeing the impossible come to life on the screen. What the Folies-Bergere once was for the foot-weary tourist, ''Baron Munchausen'' is for the television-exhausted child. Nothing much happens, but you can't easily tear your eyes away from it. - 80
Chicago Reader
Terry Gilliam's third fantasy feature (1989) may not achieve all it reaches for, but it goes beyond Time Bandits and Brazil in its play with space and time, and as a children's picture offers a fresh and exciting alternative to the Disney stranglehold on the market. - 75
Chicago Sun-Times
I was confused sometimes during Baron Munchausen and bored sometimes, but this is a vast and commodious work, and even allowing for the unsuccessful passages there is a lot here to treasure. - 75
TV Guide Magazine
The narrative is highly episodic and only intermittently engaging, but Gilliam's wildly inventive mise en scene, ably assisted by production designer Dante Ferretti, is extraordinary. - 75
Boston Globe
Gilliam has a vision and a viewpoint, and he puts it on screen with an extravagance, a humanistic generosity and a visual imagination that make it a standout in 1989's virtual cinematic vacuum. [10 Mar 1989, p.32] - 75
Chicago Tribune
Munchausen is indeed a beautiful, burgeoning, madly voluptuous movie from minute to minute and image to image; it's in the aggregate that the film fails to find the weight and the rhythm it needs to truly enthrall. [10 Mar 1989, p.A]
