While this film WAS directed by the ex-Monty Pythoner, Terry Gilliam (who was most famous for his cartoons and co-directing their films), you cannot look at it as a "Python" film--if you do, you'll be very disappointed. Despite Eric Idle playing Munchausen't fleet-footed friend, the film is less a comedy and more a piece of bizarre escapist fantasy. If you judge it as fantasy ALONE, it is amazing and fun to watch--and extremely captivating as well as far less surreal and dark as his other famous escapist film, BRAZIL (which is definitely NOT to everyone's taste). I must admit that when I first saw it, I only thought it was an average film--probably because of my false expectations. But, when I saw it again recently, I realized that it was a dandy tale with dandy acting. Well, with the acting there was the exception of Robin Williams as the Man in the Moon--as usual, he tended to dominate the scenes too much with his mugging and silliness. I really felt that Munchausen, as the hero, SHOULD have remained the focus but the few scenes with Williams were so talky and weird that Munchausen seemed a bit lost. However, this is only a minor problem and certainly NOT one that should interfere with enjoying the movie.
I also just watched the German version of the life of Munchausen (Munchausen, 1943). While for 1943 this was a fine film and I loved how they linked Munchausen to the present, the film really suffered because special effects of the day cannot keep up with the weirdness and over-the-top aspects of the film. As a result, you really come to appreciate Terry Gilliam's version even more--as the bizarreness looked so real and contributed to making it a wonderful escapist film. Apparently, this 1988 version cost a fortune to make, but in hindsight there probably was no other way to make this film and make it right.
I strongly recommend you see both films, but if you must see only one, then the Gilliam version seems to be the definitive one and can't be beat for entertainment and fun.
I also just watched the German version of the life of Munchausen (Munchausen, 1943). While for 1943 this was a fine film and I loved how they linked Munchausen to the present, the film really suffered because special effects of the day cannot keep up with the weirdness and over-the-top aspects of the film. As a result, you really come to appreciate Terry Gilliam's version even more--as the bizarreness looked so real and contributed to making it a wonderful escapist film. Apparently, this 1988 version cost a fortune to make, but in hindsight there probably was no other way to make this film and make it right.
I strongly recommend you see both films, but if you must see only one, then the Gilliam version seems to be the definitive one and can't be beat for entertainment and fun.