The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Two years ago this month when Heath Ledger died it was revealed that he was in the midst of filming with Terry Gilliam. While I was of course saddened by the death of Ledger the movie geek in me couldn't help but think, "Well it figures it would happen to Gilliam." He's faced severe adversity on seemingly every movie he's made, most famously on "Brazil" and the unfinished "Man Who Killed Don Quixote." When he's managed to overcome it though, he's produced some amazing work, particularly with "Brazil" and "Twelve Monkeys." Lately though, he's been a bit off his game. "The Brothers Grimm" was entertaining but doesn't hold up terribly well to repeat viewings and "Tideland" was certifiably unwatchable. Seriously, I couldn't bring myself to finish watching it. But the hope for Gilliam fans was that he could overcome adversity once again to produce something special. The result is a film that is so maddening and unfocused that I really think that Terry Gilliam is done as a filmmaker. Done making anything worthwhile anyway.
Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer, "The Sound of Music") runs a traveling carnival around the streets of London. To all the world it appears to be a cheap and unmagical show with a rather sad troupe of performers. There's a little man in an animal costume (Verne Troyer), awkward Anton (Andrew Garfield), and the Doctor's daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), who's fifteen going on sixteen. And when Valentina turns sixteen the Doctor's going to have hell to pay, literally. Long ago the childless Parnassus made a deal with the Devil, or Mr. Nick (Tom Waits... naturally), that if he was ever able to have a child that the child would become Nick's the day they turned sixteen.
As it turns out, the carnival features a mirror that leads into another dimension. It's limited only by the imagination of the person who steps through it. Nick seems to enjoy his interactions with Parnassus so he offers him a new deal just a few days before Valentina's birthday. The first to capture five souls would win and the winner would get Valentina. This seems an impossible task for Parnassus until the troupe finds Tony (Heath Ledger), hanging from a bridge, dead by all appearances (a rather eerie introduction for Ledger's final character). Still, they untie him and find that he's still alive, thanks to a little ingenuity on his part. Parnassus takes this as a sign that he is going to win and so the fight for Valentina's soul begins.
The answer to the question how did they get around Ledger's death with filming not yet completed is surprisingly simple and honestly it's one of the few things about "Parnassus" that really works. Every scene in which Tony appears in the real world, Ledger had completed. Only the sequences in which he goes into the imaginarium remained, so it was written into the script that Tony take on a different appearance whenever stepping inside. Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell all appear as imaginarium Tony's and each does a surprisingly good job at keeping the character consistent, or as consistent as possible with this script. While it's unfortunate that this is Ledger's last film and unfortunate that the film itself is a failure, I can honestly say that it is in no way Ledger's fault. He's as charismatic as he ever was in the role of Tony, a schemer whose past is never quite understood and whose true nature is not fully explored. He does a terrific job with a character who sadly remained underdeveloped in the script by Gilliam and Charles McKeown. Plummer and Waits each do fine work as well, but Cole and Garfield are forgettable and Troyer gives a performance so abysmal I honestly don't know how he gets work as an actor. I can't remember the last time I saw an actor so inept at simply delivering lines. Every single word from his mouth is an exercise in pain. It's of little consequence though when the script and direction are as clunky and unfocused as they are here. It certainly doesn't help matters that its two hours feel more like three.
It's a shame for so many reasons that "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" just doesn't work, despite the valiant efforts of Ledger, his replacements, Plummer, and Waits. Ledger will be remembered for far better things. So will Gilliam for that matter. 5/10.