"Remarkable. Unbelievable. Impossible. And true"

In the Age of Reason the amazing Baron Munchausen (Neville) goes on a journey to reunite his band of men in order to save a city from the Turks with young stowaway Sally Salt (Polley) in tow. On his journey he meets the King of the Moon (Williams) and the gods Vulcan (Reed) and Venus (Thurman) and has an altercation with a giant sea monster. Luckily he survives and with his reunited gang he sets about rescuing the city. And that's just some of the story.

The Adventures of Baron Munchauson is a fun and fabulous adventure that is both highly original and very memorable. Shrouded in a lot of controversy on it's release (constantly changing release dates and rumors of an out of control budget), the film was well received by critics and gained an instant cult following, but it performed disastrously at the box-office.

Terry Gilliam is without doubt one of the most gifted filmmakers working today and The Adventures of Baron Munchauson his one of his most audacious projects yet. It works on two levels. Firstly as an action packed comedic fantasy film. Secondly it's in keeping with Gilliam's consistent themes. As usual he never lets slip an opportunity to take a dig at the establishment but the greater purpose the film perhaps serves is to question our perception of reality. Is the world we perceive really the one we live in and can we shape the world around us if we merely put our minds to it? It is an examination of the very power of storytelling.

The film blurs the lines between reality and imagination and between fact and fiction. It begins in a city that is under siege by the Turks. A second-rate performing troupe is putting on a show about the legendary adventurer (and renowned liar) Baron Munchauson. The show isn't going terribly well and midway through a grumpy old curmudgeon storms in claiming that HE is the REAL Baron Munchauson and that they've got his story all wrong! What's more he claims that only HE can end the war with the Turks because HE is the reason it started. From here unravels a magnificent tale that shifts from various forms of reality with consummate ease.

It is unclear whether the story we are told is supposed to be truthful, merely a tale that is being told by the Baron, or a fragment of the Barons over active imagination. Just when you think you've got a grasp on what's going on, Gilliam will put a twist in that will make you question everything you've already seen. At times it seems as if the Baron is quite mad. But then, what is mad? Where Gilliam's previous masterpiece Brazil was a pessimistic and frustrated look at a man who finds his fanciful dreams crushed by reality, Baron Munchauson has a much more positive outlook, focusing on a man who succeeds in not letting what is supposed to be "reality" get in his way.

Horatio Jackson: "I'm afraid to say that you have a rather weak grasp on reality."

With the unreliable Baron as our focus of attention, we really follow the film through the eyes of young Sally. Sally is feisty and mature and performed wonderfully well by Sarah Polley. She is the anchor of the film and the most sensible person in the whole thing. It's her youthful enthusiasm that keeps the Baron's relish for his quest up. When even he is beginning to doubt his own beliefs, it's Sally's unquenchable enthusiasm that keeps him going. John Neville is a slice of perfection as the Baron. He is at once mischievous, charming, grumpy, heroic and insane.

The film, for the most part, is visually superb. From a hot air balloon made from ladies knickers flying over the Turkish battlements to a dance with Venus in the ballroom of the gods, the film is often breathtaking. All of this visual splendor is refreshingly original too, and in the age of CGI, unlikely ever to be quite matched. There are a number of moments of 'how did they do that?' That's something you just don't get anymore in special effects films because we all KNOW how they do it. Not all the visual aspects work though, the Baron and Sally's arrival at a city on the moon looks pretty cheap. One suspects that Gilliam was heavily hampered by budget constraints. Ninety percent of the film looks stunning though.

The strange assortment of supporting characters all add wonderfully to the mix as well. Jonathan Pryce as town official Horatio Jackson is suitably anal, Robin Williams goes completely over-the-top as the King of the Moon (but is occasionally grating), Oliver Reed is fiercely hilarious as Vulcan god of war, Uma Thurman is gorgeous as Venus and Eric Idle is well, Eric Idle.

At the end of the day you will not be able to work out the plot of this film because it doesn't make sense, it's not supposed too. While this may indicate that the film is ultimately lightweight, I think it instead leaves the viewer to realise that maybe life isn't so precise after all, and that the imagination is perhaps our greatest gift, and shouldn't be held back.

I'll say it right now that Terry Gilliam is my favorite director, so I'm probably biased. I have to give The Adventures of Baron Munchauson at least a 9/10. I dare say the majority of people won't like the film much, and that's fine. Terry has said that he would rather make a film that has some people love it and some hate it than a film that everyone thinks is just 'alright'. Amen to the sentiment.

NOTE: The Adventures of Baron Munchauson actually wasn't released in most countries until 1989, but it was filmed in 1987, which is why I'm listing it before Dangerous Liaisons in this guide.

What may be the smallest role Uma's ever had in a film will probably be one that is remembered after many others have been forgotten. Not for any great acting feat mind you, but for an entrance that involved her simply standing on the spot.

It was basically a modeling job for Uma, but an important step up the ladder as it got her noticed by a lot of important people in the film industry. She plays two characters, Rose, a member of the performing troop and Venus the goddess of love. As Rose she is basically just another one of the characters that happen to be around, occasionally getting an inconsequential line such as "he's dead" or "please baron please".

It is perfectly cast as Venus however that she grabs all your attention. She arrives completely nude (but strategically covered) inside a giant clamshell before being wrapped in a revealingly transparent white dress that barely leaves anything to the imagination. Uma's sheer beauty and physical magnetism has never been more enlivening.

Her actual acting performance is suitably aloof and ethereal, and she has a lively marital tiff with a ferocious Oliver Reed. However she doesn't have time to really create a character and is just there to provide a presence, but that presence is a remarkably sensual one.

Observing the various billings on the different versions of the film are a good guide of Uma's career rise. On the original theatrical release, an unknown Uma got about 13th billing. By the time of the video's release, Dangerous Liaisons had come out and her billing had been raised to around five. On the latest reissues of the movie, Uma gets second billing and her name on the front (see the poster above). I assume that Sarah Polly - who is now a rising young star herself - will get her name on the front eventually too.