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The passing of time has not lessened the shock of seeing Heath Ledger hanging from a noose — the late actor’s very first scene as a slippery businessman named Tony in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. But it’s just as well that death’s reality is acknowledged up front; after that, the surreality of Terry Gilliam’s existential fantasia soon absorbs Ledger — as well as the bonus trio of stars pitching in, of sad necessity, as versions of Tony. Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell all don Tony’s ice-cream-white suit during Gilliam’s rambling meditation on destiny, free will, the magic of the sideshow life, and the lure of the devil

The dotty doc has three afflictions: alcohol, gambling and the devil. The latter, known here as Mr. Nick, once made a bet and won a big prize: the soul of Parnassus’ daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole, who has the Botticelli look Gilliam favors). Nick (an oily Tom Waits) expects to collect on Valentina’s 16th birthday, which is just days away.

The doc’s cranky 3-foot-high assistant, Percy (Verne Troyer), knows about this fateful debt. But Valentina and the troupe’s barker, Anton (Boy A’s Andrew Garfield), have not been informed. Anton loves Valentina and is worried about competition from the new guy (Ledger, also oily). He’s a mysterious fugitive who claims to have lost his memory; Valentina decides to call him George.

His arrival foreshadowed by a Tarot card, the Hanged Man, George is found dangling under Blackfriars Bridge. (That’s where Vatican banker Roberto Calvi was discovered.) But George, whose real name is Tony, is the sort of fast-talking, well-prepared hustler who can survive an execution. He joins the troupe in an attempt to elude Russian gangsters.

George tempts a newly upscale clientele through the mirror. What follows are three fantasy sequences, filmed after Ledger’s death, in which George is played alternately by Depp, Law or Farrell. The imagery ranges from beguiling to ominous to goofy: In one vignette, cops in drag perform a chorus-girl routine that’s pure Python.

When cloistered, Parnassus explains, he was one of the monks who continually recited the story that keeps the universe going. This is ironic, since Imaginarium suffers from the director’s characteristic disinterest in keeping a tale on track. Scripted by Charles McKeown (who co-wrote Brazil) and Gilliam, the movie has too many plots and too little momentum

The device itself is surprisingly seamless. The movie, unfortunately, is not.

So The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus winds up as yet another case of a film with not enough story for the amount of movie there is. There is a cornucopia of memorably fantastic images – but the script offers too much blather and not enough exploration of the themes Gilliam is pursuing.

The title construct is a traveling show, headed by Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer), and including his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole) and his various employees. Eventually they’re joined by a con man named Tony (Ledger), who doesn’t quite realize what he’s playing with here.

Because while it comes off as an elaborate illusion, the Imaginarium is real: a portal to a dimension in which one’s dreams can come true. If the person who enters this world (which is different for each person) has a pure heart, the dreamer is returned to reality, overcome with ecstasy at the visions he or she has seen, borne on a swing while laughing and grinning.

But for those who aren’t true of heart, the Imaginarium turns into a nightmare mousetrap, where the dreamer is transformed into a live-action cartoon character and transported to some Looney Tunes version of hell, never to return to the real world.

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