Ledger's last film an imaginative journey

Only in a Terry Gilliam movie could a major actor die during production and be replaced by three other actors all playing the same role, and still have the story make sense.

As sense goes in a Terry Gilliam movie.

Gilliam cheerfully credits his "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" as "From Heath Ledger and Friends," in tribute to the 28-year-old Australian actor who died of an accidental drug overdose two years ago this month.

Where regular Hollywood productions might have folded or merely recast the role, Gilliam asked three actors to resume Ledger's enigmatic character, Tony. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell filled in, and the results are chaotic, loopy and downright enthralling.

Gilliam, the single American member of the British comedy troupe Monty Python, is the poet of mad visions, and he has a history of thriving in anarchy, conflict and bad luck. He is a true artist of the cinema, not because of his hit-and-miss critical track record, or because of his spotty box office receipts. But because he thinks and breathes in pure visual terms, most of them strange and the rest outrageously strange.

So, if you go to see "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," remember you're entering a looking-glass world where the rules governing character, plot and coherence are merely options.

In their places, Gilliam supplies plenty of compensatory elements. Where else can you see a race between men using giant ladders as legs, or bumbling cops performing a zany song-and-dance routine?

Christopher Plummer brings an exasperated sense of world weariness to Dr. Parnassus, a former monk who 1,000 years ago made a pact with the devil, Mr. Nick (the ever-raspy Tom Waits), to become immortal.

As part of this deal, Parnassus agreed to give Mr. Nick his only daughter, Valentina (Lily Cole), upon her 16th birthday.

With that date approaching fast, a desperate Parnassus takes up another offer from Mr. Nick: The first to lure five souls to his side takes all. The clock is ticking.

Ledger enters the story as Tony, discovered by Valentina hanging from a bridge. Miraculously not dead (he has a trick up his sleeve, and his throat), Tony says he can't remember who he is, and so he accompanies Parnassus and Valentina through the seedy streets of London, performing feats of magic and wonder as part of their traveling Imaginarium show.

Parnassus' helpers, a young apprentice named Anton (Andrew Garfield) and a little man named Percy ("Austen Powers" star Verne Troyer), do most of the leg work.

Tony proves his worth by adding sex appeal and charm to the program, while quietly suggesting he has something to hide, and he does.

So does Parnassus' mirror, which operates as a doorway into the surrealistic realm of his subconsciousness.

The journeys into this never-never land are Gilliam's signature sequences, imaginative creations of CGI and special effects, highlighted by the ingenious decision to have Tony transform into a new body each time he enters.

First, an almost unrecognizable Depp plays him as he escorts an older woman to the River of Immortality where she can join James Dean and Princess Di and those who will never grow old. Law and Farrell add their own touches to Tony, always played by Ledger in the "real" world.

"Imaginarium" is Gilliam's triumphant return to cinema after his 2005 critical and box office dud "Tideland."

His new film is the kind that provokes thought, encourages discussion and prompts the eternal question, "What was that about?"

No Gilliam movie is complete without that one.

"The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus"Rating: #9733; #9733; #9733;Starring: Christopher Plummer, Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, Jude Law, Directed by: Terry GilliamOther: A Sony Classics release. Rated PG-13 for language, sexual situations, smoking and violence. 122 minutes