The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

Find Movie Theaters & Showtimes

for
near
in
COMING SOON

Check back soon for more information.

Browse Local Theaters

Videos & Photos

Movie Info & Cast

Director:

Terry Gilliam

Producer:

Thomas Schühly

Writer:

Charles McKeown, Gottfried August Bürger, Rudolph Erich Raspe

Runtime:

2hr 6m

Synopsis

An account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences across late 18th-century Europe with his band of misfits.

Cast

  • John Neville
  • Eric Idle
  • Sarah Polley
  • Oliver Reed
  • Charles McKeown
  • Winston Dennis
  • Jack Purvis
  • Valentina Cortese
  • Jonathan Pryce
  • Bill Paterson

Letterboxd User Reviews

3.7
91.5K
33.0K
24.0K
RATINGS 728 FANS
3.7
  • May 31, 2020

    A chaotic, good ol' fashioned fantastical adventure film that is way too horny and existential to be categorized as a children's film but way too cartoonish and tactile to feel like anything but! Shades of The Fall and Hook and Big Fish on acid. Loved it. Sure it doesn't…

    885 Likes
    demi adejuyigbe
    demi adejuyigbe
    Dec 5, 2006

    Terry Gilliam is a guy riding a giant penny farthing bicycle with a top hat with a cat on it looking at you with a look like “but which of us is really the freak?” Terry Gilliam is a guy with epic facial hair who gets really into burlesque. Terry Gilliam is a high school…

    636 Likes
    Branson Reese
    Branson Reese
    Nov 30, 2012

    I honestly don't understand why this film was received so poorly when it was released. Baron Munchausen is one of my favourite literary characters. He lives with an 'everything is possible' attitude and his adventures are thus accordingly bizarre. There is in my mind…

    413 Likes
    DirkH
    DirkH
  •
    Aug 30, 2021

    A movie about how imagination can save us and bring comfort in the worst of times. Baron Munchausen is a romantic who doesnt take reality too seriously. He's a story teller and adventurer. I loved this movie as a kid and it still holds up. Although it was way more…

    322 Likes
    Kat
    Kat
    Mar 23, 2024

    didn't expect to host a horny, dustland fairytale double feature for friends today but here we are! magnificent and lively in a way all children's films used to be. glad it exists, confused why we didn't get a million movies of the baron's adventures. honestly a bit hard to…

    307 Likes
    demi adejuyigbe
    demi adejuyigbe
    Jan 17, 2023

    "We're actors, not fictions of your imagination" This is one of them films I used to watch a lot when I was younger but over time had completely forgot about until now thanks to the recent 4k release by Criterion and in my opinion this crazy fantasy adventure still…

    227 Likes
    VIVE_le_FILTH
    VIVE_le_FILTH
  • Jun 17, 2022

    Wondering now if this is actually Terry Gilliam’s best movie. A total delight, full of the sorts of bizarre visual ideas that only he could come up with. So much stuff to look at here - every shot crammed with bric-a-brac, and with a lot of the kind of enormous…

    193 Likes
    Will Sloan
    Will Sloan
    Feb 17, 2024

    The sets in this go crazy

    167 Likes
    merritt k
    merritt k
    Jan 18, 2023

    "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" is a fantastical adventure directed by the clearly insane Terry Gilliam. As Gilliam clearly holds his insanity build quite uniquely within a tongue-and-cheek motif, the madness goes along with a more playful tone. It becomes an easy…

    124 Likes
    Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti"
    Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti"

Queue Community Reviews

86%
Community 898
❤️ LOVE
32%
👍 LIKE
54%
😐 MEH
9%
👎 DISLIKE
6%
Top Reviews
  • Shahana Jafarova
    Shahana Jafarova liked
    The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

    Loved the surreal visuals and the Baron’s wild tales. However, the stereotypical depiction of Turks was a huge turn-off.

    6M
    Joey
    Joey loved
    The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

    THIS MOVIE!!! After watching it as a child I finally found its name. CLASSIC 🥰

    6M
    tone bone
    tone bone is "meh" on
    The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

    Not too engaging

    11M
  • Helaina
    Helaina watched_neutrald
    The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

    Very whimsical

    3M
    Vogue Italia
    Vogue Italia loved
    The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

    silly! wow

    3Y
    Ryan
    Ryan liked
    The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

    Unhinged

    1Y
  • Mark Bateman
    Mark Bateman is "meh" on
    The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

    3/10

    1Y

Atom Users Reviews

No one has posted a user review yet.

Metacritic

69
metacritic
Based on 15 Critics
8.2

USER SCORE (49)

Universal acclaim based on 49 Reviews
75

I was confused sometimes during Baron Munchausen and bored sometimes, but this is a vast and commodious work, and even allowing for the unsuccessful passages there is a lot here to treasure.

Metacritic review by Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
80

With their remarkable contributions, ''Baron Munchausen'' is full of moments that dazzle, just for the fun of seeing the impossible come to life on the screen. What the Folies-Bergere once was for the foot-weary tourist, ''Baron Munchausen'' is for the television-exhausted child. Nothing much happens, but you can't easily tear your eyes away from it.

Metacritic review by Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
The New York Times

Frequently Asked Questions

Is The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) family-friendly?
The movie has been rated as PG (Parental Guidance Suggested). It's generally considered a family-friendly movie.
How long is The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)?
The movie is 2hr 6min long.
What's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) about?
An account of Baron Munchausen's supposed travels and fantastical experiences across late 18th-century Europe with his band of misfits.
Who's the cast of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)?
  • John Neville as Hieronymus Karl Frederick Baron von Munchausen
  • Eric Idle as Desmond, Berthold
  • Sarah Polley as Sally Salt
  • Oliver Reed as Vulcan
  • Charles McKeown as Rupert, Adolphus
  • Winston Dennis as Bill, Albrecht
  • Jack Purvis as Jeremy, Gustavus
  • Valentina Cortese as Queen Ariadne, Violet
  • Jonathan Pryce as The Right Ordinary Horatio Jackson
  • Bill Paterson as Henry Salt
Who's the director behind The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)?
Terry Gilliam directed The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988).
Who produced The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)?
Thomas Schühly produced The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988).