THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS

I just saw THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS at the Lyric.  Monty Python with shades of Heironymous Bosch, Salvador Dali and a touch of Goethe done in a rich tapestry of animation.  A very interesting movie! Terry Gilliam’s work from Monty Python clearly is the high point of this movie, although it is much darker than  his work in the past.  The policemen’s chorus, for example, is much like “I’m a Lumberjack.”  The head popping through the earth and having a road come out his mouth, the driver popping out of the woman’s head after it is taken off her body, and the animated landscapes are pure Monty Python but he adds touches of Salvador Dali and Hieronymous Bosch to spice up the tapestry of facades.  The bets with Satan and the trickery add a darkness to the movie, since Dr. P’s daughter is the ultimate prize after youth and longevity/immortality run their courses.  I don’t know if I would recommend this movie to just anyone but it is a movie that, 10 years from now, you will say “I saw that at the Lyric.”