Movie Mondays: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

It's been crazy busy and I've been a blogger failure! more on that next post, but for now here's your movie monday before it gets any later!

Todays movie is so much fun! I love it- probably because I love the idea of a traveling circus. How much fun would it be to be in one of those? Especially if your circus is super magically awesome like it is in this movie.

The film is The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It's about a traveling circus comprised of the amazing Dr Parnassus, his 15 year old daughter Valentina (who he tries to pass off as 12 in the show- for various reasons), his assistant Antoine (who has a crush on Valentina), and a midget named Percy.

This traveling circus is unlike any other traveling circus though- inside the Imaginarium, dreams become reality. For the most part, they're very fun and enjoyable dreams. However, every once in a while the devil- known as Mr. Nick in this film- gets involved.

So skip back 1000 years ago. Dr. Parnassus is over 1000 years old, but he falls in love with a mortal woman. He agrees to make a deal with the devil (Mr. Nick), trading his immortality for youth. The catch is that once the child Dr. Parnassus and this woman have reaches his or her 16th birthday, the child goes to Mr. Nick. And that's why Dr. Parnassus is trying to make Valentina appear to be 12. However, Mr. Nick can't be fooled by this- he is, however, willing to make another bet. Whoever can seduce 5 souls within the Imaginarium will win Valentina.

Sounds pretty cool by itself, right? But then there's this whole situation with Tony, who is played by Heath Ledger. I mean Johnny Depp. I mean Jude Law. I mean Colin Farrell. Oh wait, it's all of them. You see, every time Tony (who is rescued while nearly hanging to death on a bridge by the traveling circus) enters the Imaginarium, he shifts appearance. Tony becomes an important part of the story, as Dr. Parnassus offers his daughter's hand in marriage to whoever helps him win his bet against the devil. Obviously Tony like Valentina as well, so it becomes quite a little love triangle between her, Antoine, and Tony.

What fun. Semi-confusing, yes. It kind of reminded me of Across the Universe- so many fun colors and awesome use of scenery, animation, etc. It's magical and thrilling and wonderful. And Tom Waits plays Mr. Nick. Need I say more?

Here's a trailer:


sheesh, way to make it look super fricken dramatic- it's quite more lighthearted than they make it appear :) It's on netflix instant, so if you can, check it out!