Jabberwocky
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Movie Reviews of Jabberwocky
Movie Review: TERRY GILLIAM TRIES HIS HAND IN HORROR.....well sort of
Summary: 3 Stars
JABBERWOCKY starts off with the very talented Terry Jones as a poacher checking his traps. He suddenly encounters the JABBERWOCK which eats his body to the bones(great scene I might add the likes of George Romero and Peter Jackson)its the middle ages and the JABBERWOCK has terrified the land.
Enter Dennis Cooper(played by my favorite Python Michael Palin)a barrel maker who is in love with a VERY plus size girl who really wants nothing to do with him. I will not give the movie away and would like to point out some things I liked and did not like with this movie. I really do admire Terry Gilliam he is fantastic with the camera and can be compared to the likes of Lynch and Raimi. The GORE in this though limited is excellent and you really do feel like it is the dark ages. Michael Palin plays this straight and though I love ALL the Python actors any other would not have made it believable(meaning I would not have taken the role of Dennis seriously and would have been waiting for the punch-line ESPECIALLY if the role was given to Cleese)the disappointment in this film is that it really cannot make up its mind what it wants to be? Is it a HORROR film a comedy a adventure WHAT? Terry throws in some comic moments but has few successes in this he also throws in some HORROR but not enough and the script in the middle of the film is quite dry. Still I feel the good outweighs the bad by a small margin. Believe it or not I have this in my HORROR collection(right after ERASERHEAD 1977) for it looked out of place anywhere else. Python fans this is not a comedy at all do know this. This is based off a Lewis Caroll poem,I would love to see a Terry Gilliam HORROR picture though in truth I think this is as close as I will get.
Movie Review: Entertaining but uneven film from a "beamish" boy
Summary: 3 Stars
Gilliam's first solo feature was very much a transitional effort; While trying to stretch his wings as a film director, Gilliam also falls back on a number of Pythonish devices throughout the film. In many respects, Jabberwocky is a reaction to the first Python film co-directed by Gilliam and Terry Jones (who is killed in the first scene of this movie interestingly enough): Gilliam hasn't fully integrated his cynical and dark observations with the slapstick inspired humor of the Monty Python brood. Nevertheless, Jabberwocky is a fun film particularly with Gilliam and Michael Palin providing audio commentary throughout the film. The film was shot for less than a million dollars on sets for other films (Olivier Twist for one). Gilliam used many of Bosch's paintings as inspiration throughout the film and his take on Lewis Carroll's classic poem is unique and, at times, devestatingly funny.
The extras are quite nice on this DVD edition. The comparison between Gilliam's sketchbook and the final film is particularly interesting. Although there isn't a documentary looking back on this pivotal film, Gilliam and Palin manage to provide a funny and interesting look back on their commentary track.
Make no mistake, this isn't a Monty Pyton film. It does share much of the same humor and irreverent look at human nature that appears throughout the Python canon. Gilliam continues to be one our most talented and iconoclastic film makers. His skewed vision on humanity manages to both celebrate and satirize human nature at the same time. Jabberwocky represents an artist finding his voice and, although a bit inconsistent, is well worth purchasing.
Movie Review: Sub-Python, and also not Python
Summary: 3 Stars
When I went to see this in the late 1970s, I assumed it was another Python spin-off. After all, any film containing Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam and Michale Palin has to be at least half-Python. But as a comedy, the film left me strangely dissatisfied. It is only now, browsing the DVD packaging some 25 years later, that I realise why I was so disappointed. The problem is that the writers were Terry Gilliam and (mainly) Charles Alverson. Much as I like Gilliam's animations, I have to admit that he was, at best, a minor contributor to Python's classic sketches. I hadn't heard of Alverson before, but according to the amazon site, he is largely the compiler of out-of-print joke books.
Whereas 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' contains many sketches (e.g. the autonomous collective peasants scene and the witch scene), there is nothing here that could stand on its own as a sketch. There are many amusing moments in 'Jabberwocky', but nothing that builds up, through Python's relentless pursuit of the logic of the ridiculous, into a self-contained sketch. Where the script tries to imitate the Python style -- e.g. the king's decision to kill the herald -- it often falls flat, or at best elicits a mild chuckle.
Watch this for its atmosphere, for the much-improved sound quality, for the strength of the supporting cast (e.g. John Bird and Graham Crowden in minor roles) and for its pointers to Gilliam's future directorial career. Just don't expect the humour to be at Python's level.
Movie Review: 2-3 stars tops and it hurts to say it
Summary: 3 Stars
Being a big Python fan, I was in a local office store and they had a random DVD rack. I saw Jabberwocky and was like, "YES!!". I snatched it up, went directly home and popped it into the player. I love both stupid, toilet humor and smart humor. But...I was disappointed from the start. I hate to say that but I have to be honest. Here is why.
- Timing/pace: The primary disappointment was the comedic timing in this. One minute, you are listening and waiting for the next joke or one liner and nothing happens. It will be drama, drama and more drama. Then, for one example, we get one funny line after another from the dingbat princess speaking to her father of her pending suiters. Then, not a whole lot of great humor for a long time. It's so touch-and-go that it is almost frustrating.
- The type of humor: We get some occasional good one liners and lead-in's but there are so many VERY subtle jokes or hints at humor that it seemed imbalanced. And some attempts at humor missed the mark entirely. (You said you didn't have any posessions. You have a potato. You can't eat it. It's a momento! A momento? She must really love you.) Come on. This whole scene had me yawning.
It does have it's humor and for someone who would like to see the Python's being a little serious, you will like it. But, understand, this is not typical Python. It's not the Holy Grail, Life of Brian or The Meaning of life.
2-3 stars in my own opinion.
Movie Review: Comes gallumphing back. Wait, what does "gallumphing" mean again?
Summary: 3 Stars
I rented this on the name alone, having taken a shine to the monster since the 1985 TV movie implanted in me a false memory of "Through the Looking Glass" ending with a showdown between the beast and Alice. You might then label "Jabberwocky" a victim of my admittedly strange expectations. If, though, if you start your movie with an attack by the beast in question and the king of the realm declaring a bounty on the beast's head and your hero setting off from his humble origins to Prove His Worth, then your audience has no right to expect anything but an epic quest to defeat the monster.
Instead, you get more of a comedy following the hero's scattered misadventures in a European city in the Dark Ages, and while this isn't wrong, exactly, you're waiting and waiting for the meat of the movie to arrive, for the main plot to resurface, and you'll be waiting until ten minutes before the credits. The pacing is so very dreary, with several minutes of staging before a short spurt of jokes - a particular liability considering the film's pedigree as a product of many of the minds behind "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and its rapid-fire humor. An unfortunate waste of some notably accurate and unsentimentalized medieval set work and a sweetly winning performance by Michael Palin, a sort of continuation of his Galahad role.