There is something to be said for a movie that is so out there and surreal that you can just zone out and get lost in it. Even if the movie has shortcomings; if it has the ability to completely fill your head and temporarily make you forget where you are those shortcomings can easily be forgiven. This is the case with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. This is the first of three movies that Terry Gilliam directed that cracked my top 100. Gilliam is one of the few the directors out there that can consistently either take you on some fantastic storybook adventure or weird you out in a good way or do both at the same time with great success.

The movie is about the legendary Baron Munchausen who famously fabricated stories about his adventures, travels and heroics in battle. Admittedly, the film starts off slow. This is one of those shortcomings I was talking about. A local theater group in a small Spanish town is performing a show about the life and times of the great Baron Munchausen, when the real Baron gets on stage to tell his own story. During the performance the village is attacked by the Turkish army. Munchausen vows to save the day by getting together his old crew and coming back to defeat the army. He then escapes with a little girl and off they go on a wild adventure. The journey is filled with numerous imaginative tall tales. To name a couple they get eaten by an enormous sea monster and visit the man on the moon, who is somewhat overplayed by Robin Williams (another minor shortcoming).

The Baron is wonderfully played by John Neville. I honestly don’t recognize him from anything else which is a shame because he was so good in the movie. Even with his performance, Gilliam’s imagination and direction steal the show. 20 years later the special effects stand the test of time. Gilliam is the master at creating fairy tails for adults; I would love to see what he would have done with The Princess Bride. So move this up to towards the top of your Netflix queue. It’s a great diversion after a crap day at work on a cold winter night.