Jabberwocky

Starring:Annette Badland, Rodney Bewes, John Bird, Bernard Bresslaw, Antony Carrick, Peter Cellier, Harry H. Corbett, Deborah Fallender, Derek Francis, Neil Innes, Terry Jones, John Le Mesurier, Warren Mitchell, Michael Palin, Bryan Pringle, Max Wall, Frank Williams, Glenn Williams, Simon Williams
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

By the late 1970s, Monty Python's resident animator and occasional performer, Terry Gilliam, was ready to direct a feature film on his own (he codirected Monty Python and the Holy Grail two years earlier). Returning to the medieval muck and monstrosities that served as a backdrop for Holy Grail, Gilliam chose a darker satire for this erratic but funny outing. The result was a witty, modernist fable about an unprepared hero (Michael Palin) pushed through a heroic journey by uncontrollable forces of destiny, propelling him into a duel with a fearsome, man-eating dragon called Jabberwock. Raunchy, irreverent, and borderline cynical, Jabberwocky reveals a lot of Gilliam's flaws as a first-time solo filmmaker, but it also serves as a map of his obsessions and extravagant sense of art direction--elements of his artistry that certainly flourished in subsequent works. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

A brilliant and often-overlooked dark comedy.......2006-04-17

Jabberwocky is a terrific film in every way: funny, smart, visually involving, and wonderfully acted and directed. It's also gruesome, effortlessly combining subtle social commentary with farce. This first film of Terry Gilliam is often mistaken for a Monty Python film because Michael Palin stars (and possibly also because of the surface similarity to Monty Python and the Holy Grail), but the humor comes from entirely different and more complex sources than anything Python.

The movie is unrelentingly ugly and often horrifying, full of blood and filth that make you laugh and groan at the same time. This reversal of the whole knight-in-shining-armor myth accounts for a lot of the negative reactions people have to the film, as they expect another medieval fairy tale. I, on the other hand, find Gilliam's treatment of the theme deliciously and viciously funny. In reality, jousting is a nasty blood sport, not something fun like you see at a modern-day Renaissance Fair. A castle is a cold, damp, nasty place to live. People who don't bathe often tend to be dirty and unwell. These graphic realities, made VERY graphic in the film but set against the traditional story of an earnest young man on a quest, give the whole film a rare and wonderful depth of humor. Palin's performance as the amiably squirmy (and totally clueless) Dennis is particularly superb.

The film is also a wonderful exploration of self-delusion. Dennis never realizes how disliked he is, particularly by his beloved Grizelda Fishfinger (whose discarded, half-eaten potato he cherishes as a love token). The Fishfinger family reject Dennis to tempt a knight into marrying Grizelda, despite her total lack of physical or social charms. The king and his court ignore the plaster crumbling down around their heads as they meet on official business. The princess sighs dreamily at the thought of being married to a heroic knight at the same moment that she's doused with blood and gore from the joust. A beggar is cheerful at his prospects because he just had the "marvelous idea" of cutting off one of his feet to increase revenue. (Note:Gilliam based this beggar character on an image in a Hieronymous Bosch painting.)

And the Jabberwocky itself - a symbol, a figment, a real monster? It's clearly not anything from Wonderland. It's all the better that Dennis, having (accidentally) slain the Jabberwocky and won riches and the princess, still can't get anything he wants, or even speak and be heard. This definitely isn't Camelot!

With the recent release of Gilliam's atrocious "Brothers Grimm", now is the perfect time for disappointed fans to check this film out again. It shows Gilliam developing his distinctive style that would later peak in such films as "Brazil" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". This is definitely a rich, intelligent film worth owning on dvd to see multiple times.

(Trivia: Look for the always-delightful Neil Innes in this film. Innes is best known for his involvement with Monty Python and for his lead in The Rutles, and also has a long musical history with such bands as The Bonzo Dog Band and GRIMMS.)

Pure Garbage.......2006-01-13

I am a huge fan of all things Python-related, but I can't support this pitiful outing. Terrible story, terrible acting, terrible jokes. I mean, awful. I found nothing even the least bit amusing or engaging about this flick-although admittedly, I turned it off after about 30 or 40 minutes, lest I broke into hives. The only thing I could think was, "what were they thinking?"...it's like they decided to make a movie, but forgot to write a script; or maybe they were high and thought what they were doing was truly inspired, which of course it was not.
This was a very unhappy surprise, given the past and future genius contributions from Gilliam, Jones and Palin. I could be wrong, but I'd be surprised if these chaps wouldn't rather forget that they made this turkey. Worst Python-alumni thing ever.
~Sun House in Berkeley

Not Monty Python. NOT FOR CHILDREN or the faint of heart. Truely a cult classic!.......2005-10-30

This is a movie that I seen in high school (Mideval History) and my teacher of that class insisted that it was about as accurate a portrayal of Medieval Life available out of all of the movies involving Medieval life and oddly I had to agree. This movie is definately British humor and the Brits like things dry like Gin and their jokes. Also there is a different view toward nudity in the European cultures so partial nudity in movies is acceptable where here in the good old USA sexuality of any kind is taboo and a very hypocritical view is taken toward nudity. If you are naked in a movie you are offending peoples' cultural sensativities and to them I say GET A LIFE! You came into this world naked, you bath naked, and you sure as heck are not going to care when you are dead and when you take off all our cloths, guess what! So with this aside there is also some extreme violence as well (people are being eaten by the Jabberwocky as well as animals and the Jabberwocky is pretty pissed off). This movie should have been in all honesty rated R. With cultural difference aside the movie is well made and well played out. There is the moments of side plots that go nowhere but it breaks up things a little so it is more of a snapshot of medieval life that is pretty damn accurate. People didn't bath then and true to Python humor the only person not covered in SHI* is the king (in the words of Palin during an interview about the Holy Grail). Many of the scenes are of filthy people in dirty hamlets being plagued by the Jabberwocky eating livestock and pesants. This is not your run of the mill pretty boy slaying the big bad dragon like 'Dragonslayer' where people look well groomed except the pesants who don't look like they really have hard lives with a really cool looking dragon. Jabberwocky makes the pesants LOOK like pesants. Filthy, covered in rags, and definately a punishment to the senses. You can almost smell the rank odor of the unwashed masses. The dragon Jabberwocky is a real nightmare. If they had the CGI of today it would have really creeped people out. It looks more like it is undead like a zombie dragon and it comes out mad as hell and out to kill. For what they lacked in CGI they made up for with raw special effects magic. There is nothing pretty about this movie. It is gritty and realistic.
Within the plot is a toung and cheek stab at chivalry, love, and honor. The hero loves a fat angry potatoe grubbing woman who does not care for him at all. The people he is out to save could care less and the nobles are ignorant, egotistical, and narcissistic. True to British form some of the humor is hidden in the subtlties and requires a little thinking. It helps to have a more worldly view rather than a basic education to understand this movie fully. It takes a lot to understand British humor sometimes. It also takes watching it twice to catch some of the side humor or satire involved. There is a scene where the hero is asleep at the foot of a castle that was closed over night. The hero is awakened to what he thinks is rain. He figures out what happened when he looks up to see a guard putting everything away after relieving himself over the side of the castle wall. This is one of the many satirical remarks made by this movie. The hero getting pissed on says a lot in itself. No other movie treats the hero like dirt.
The story does follow a typical progeression of events as the hero decides to hunt the Jabbgerwocky and when he finally catches up to it the fight is not all it is expected to be. If you are expecting a thriller of a movie this is not it. It is a more cereberal piece that makes statements that parrallels modern life. It is very entertaining in the traditional sense but the point will be lost on many younger viewers much like the movie Brasil (Terry Gillian) which was a movie ahead of it's time. I am a long time fan of Monty Python and although this is not a Monty Python movie there are people associated with the Python players in this movie and it does parallel the way Montey Python movies like the Life of Brian and The Holy Grail are presented. If you hate Montey Python stay away from this movie. It will bore the heck out of you. If you are a Python fan you will love it. If you are into foreign cinema then you will enjoy this movie as well.
It was done after the Lewis Carol poem and yes the Jabberwock has teeth that knash and claws that slash! This is no tame movie for as low brow as the humor is. I gave it a four stars because it is a good movie but not a great one. Five stars is reserved for movies like Riddic Chronicles or Kung Fu Hustle (WHICH GETS SIX STARS BY ME! HOT HOT HOT MOVIE!) but definately not a movie to be underestimated. Just because the point or content of the movie is lost to many of those posting reviews one should not be dissuaded from viewing Jabberwockie. It does not suck like the movie Pecker (Which could suck the seeds from a cucumber from one end! It was an hour and a half of my life wasted) or Being John Malcovitch which sucks harder than a tornado in Kansas (I wanted to kick the hell out of the characters and take their lunch money! Especially the main character who discovers the secret door. Total drivel unfit for the silver screen and worst than a waste of my time and thankfully I wasted no money putting up with it!!) This definately is no Prince Valliant movie. I say watch it if you want to see something different. Don't if all you want is blood and gore action.
To all of thee I bid thee NIE! NIE! NIE!NIE!NIE!NIE!
And where is my SHRUBBERY?

Good visual details, flawed story........2005-03-23

As a big fan of Michael Palin, I was looking forward to seeing a movie where he was showcased apart from the other Pythons. Unfortunately, the story often drifts away from the main character (Dennis, the oblivious son of a cooper) in order to show us other characters who are one-dimensional and unamusing.

There are a lot of problems with this movie and I'm guessing this is because of Gilliam's lack of seasoning in film making. It seems very much made with an eye toward setting up scenes the way he fancied them rather than building up characters or paying attention to the story or dialogue. He seemed far more enamored with showing off the crumbling castle, dead bodies stripped of flesh, and a variety of filthy-looking sets than setting up characters who interacted with each other in an entertaining way.

While Michael Palin plays Dennis with a certain dumb charm, the character seems unfocussed. Sometimes, he's quite stupid and blind to the most obvious of situations (the way the object of his affection regards him with disinterest) and sometimes he seems to be very astute (on matters of efficiency). He's not stupid enough to elicit sympathy and not smart enough to admire in any small way.

I'm not a writer but I have to believe that comedy works better when not every character is stupid, angry, and/or oblivious. In both Holy Grail and Life of Brian, Graham Chapman's characters were the sane characters at the center of the insanity. These characters were the ones the viewer identified with and who the absurdity of the words and behavior of other characters could be measured by. Jabberwocky has no "straight man" for the other characters to weave their lunacy around.

There are some moments which are amusing but they are a part of what Gilliam seemed to be focussing on - the sets. Ultimately, the characters are unattractive and unfunny. I'm sorry to say that Jabberwocky is very likely to disappoint those who enjoy other Python movies or the T.V. show.

Excellent Terry Gilliam flick.......2004-12-10

For the uninitiated, T. Gilliam is the ex-Monty Python genius behind films such as '12 Monkeys', 'Brazil' etc. - though for me, this is probably his best film.

Featuring his trademark surreal humour in a grimy medieval setting, this chronicles the adventures of our hapless anti-hero Dennis (played by Michael Palin), trying to win the hand of the fair Griselda Fishfinger (not anything like as cute as her name might suggest). Similar in tone to 'Life of Brian' and 'Time Bandits', though even darker, if that helps explain things any.

Based on the 'Jabberwock' poem from Alice in Wonderland, this is suitable for all ages, especially for people with a slightly warped sense of humour.

Average customer rating:

Jabberwocky [Region 2]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Genres | DVD | Video

( J ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00007LZ5A

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