Doctor Parnassus (Christopher Plummer) has been alive over 1000 years and has been traveling the world, enticing the public's imagination and constantly betting against Mr. Nick (Tom Waits), none other than The Devil himself. When The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus starts off, we realize that our modern world is far from the imagination-filled place of Parnassus' past. His strange mobile stage sticks out like a sore thumb when it pulls up and opens up to display a woodsy scene with an odd mirror in the middle. Parnassus is partnered with his daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), who longs to leave the gypsy-esque life, Anton (Anderw Garfield), a boy in love with Valentina, and Percy (Verne Troyer), a small man who seems to have been with the Doctor since the beginning.
What only the Doctor, Percy and Mr. Nick know is that on Valentina's soon-to-come 16th birthday, he is supposed to give her up to the devilish character because of a pact made long ago. That is, until Mr. Nick shows up with a new deal. The first of the two to "claim" five souls will get to keep Valentina. Here is where the real strangeness comes in. That mirror I mentioned earlier is actually a doorway into Parnassus' mind, where the imaginations of the people inside get to run wild. In a sense, whatever the people behind the mirror truly want happens, and because of this the "good" people end up getting sorted from the "bad" people really quickly since those that can fall to temptation do so while in Parnassus' mind.
At about the same time Mr. Nick makes his new proposal, the troupe stumbles upon a new character. Hanging under a bridge, they find Tony (Heath Ledger), who seems to have a few issues remembering who he is, or why he was strung up by the neck. The dashing Tony quickly joins the crew, and much to Anton's chagrin, he also catches the eye of young Valentina. A competition quickly picks up between the two suitors to see who can help Parnassus get to five first, but Tony doesn't realize exactly what is going on until he steps behind the mirror himself.
It's in these imaginative scenes where the film not only takes on a strange turn, but Ledger's death had the most impact. Apparently, all of the real world scenes were already filmed when Ledger passed away, and while Terry Gilliam considered using a computer-generated version of Ledger for the scenes behind-the-mirror, three close friends of the star stepped up to make a different offer. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell asked to stand in for Ledger during his three other-worldly scenes. The idea was that Tony would take on the appearance of how the other people saw him. In all three cases, Tony looked essentially the same (the same suit, the same goatee and the same pony-tail), but he wasn't the same. The first time Tony goes behind the looking-glass, Depp takes over the role, and later when Tony is being chased by some thugs, Law shows up, while in the final fantastic scene, it's Farrell's turn to take on the character. What is great is how well each of these three actors mimicked Ledger's portrayal of Tony, and how smoothly the various transitions occurred. In fact, if it wasn't for the unfortunate death of Ledger, it would seem like this was the plan the entire time.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus comes with a lot of featurettes like a general making-of and one on designing the monastery where Parnassus first meets Mr. Nick. There is also one that shows one of the film's first sequences on a four-way split screen that shows everything from storyboards to the final scene, but the main focus of the extras is Ledger. This Blu-ray contains everything from a radio interview with Ledger about the film, a discussion about how the development of the movie was affected by the actor's death and even a wardrobe test with commentary by Gilliam. There is a lot of effort put into both the film and the features to commemorate Ledger's final film, and it really helps to drive home the fact that the entire cast and crew will miss him.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical film that just screams Terry Gilliam (as well as a little Jim Henson); unfortunately, there are times where the high-definition video actually takes away from the film. These are typically in the CG-heavy scenes behind Parnassus' mirror, but a certain amount of suspension of disbelief can be applied to say that the not-quite-right visuals in these areas are apart of the imaginative world the audience is being treated to, especially since most of them look and feel like you are watching a moving painting.
Ultimately, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a strange and interesting movie that is worth seeing at least once. If you are a fan of Gilliam's other works, or want to complete your Heath Ledger collection, then Parnassus is worth the purchase. It definitely isn't for everybody though, and those most likely to find it unappealing are probably already turned away by the mention of its fantastical nature.
