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Movies that feel like The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

If you loved The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the closest films we have are The Brothers Grimm (2005), Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004) and The Adventures of Tintin (2011). All three share The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus' epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 10 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Netflix, HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video and others, checked against today's data.

After a carnival troupe saves his life, a man agrees to help its immortal leader collect five souls and win a bet with the devil.

πŸ… 63% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 6.8 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Terry Gilliamepicdreamliketwisty

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If The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus hit the spot, these will too

The Brothers Grimm poster
The Brothers Grimm
2005 Β· dir. Terry Gilliam
πŸ… 38%β˜… 5.9adventure Β· fantasy Β· action

Both are Terry Gilliam's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Critics were much harder on this one

Folklore collectors and con artists, Jake and Will Grimm, travel from village to village pretending to protect townsfolk from enchanted creatures and performing exorcisms. However, they are put to the test when they encounter a real magical curse in a haunted forest with real magical beings, requiring genuine courage.

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Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed poster
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
2004 Β· dir. Raja Gosnell
πŸ… 22%β˜… 5.3mystery Β· adventure Β· comedy

Epic and twisty in the same breath

The difference: Not nearly as dreamlike

A masked villain wreaks mayhem on the city of Coolsville with a monster machine that creates real-life versions of Mystery Inc.'s former foes like The 10,000 Volt Ghost, The Cotton Candy Glob, The Skelemen and The Pterodactyl Ghost. Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, Velma and Scooby-Doo launch an investigation into the monster outbreak that leaves Shaggy and Scooby questioning their roles in Mystery Inc. Eager to prove their detective skills, the ever-ravenous duo comes up with a secret plan to solve the mystery all by themselves. Can the gang unravel their most challenging case?

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The Adventures of Tintin poster
The Adventures of Tintin
2011 Β· dir. Steven Spielberg
πŸ… 75%β˜… 7.3adventure Β· animation Β· mystery

Epic adventure in both cases

The difference: Lighter on dream logic

Intrepid young reporter, Tintin, and his loyal dog, Snowy, are thrust into a world of high adventure when they discover a ship carrying an explosive secret. As Tintin is drawn into a centuries-old mystery, Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine suspects him of stealing a priceless treasure. Tintin and Snowy, with the help of salty, cantankerous Captain Haddock and bumbling detectives, Thompson and Thomson, travel half the world, one step ahead of their enemies, as Tintin endeavors to find the Unicorn, a sunken ship that may hold a vast fortune, but also an ancient curse.

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Upon the Magic Roads poster
Upon the Magic Roads
2021 Β· dir. Oleg Pogodin
β˜… 5.7adventure Β· fantasy

Dreamlike fantasy, and it commits to that

Romantic John the Fool and his friend Foal set out on a series of unpredictable adventures in different magical worlds. The two buddies will have to outsmart an evil tyrant king, catch the firebird, and find John’s true love.

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Snow White and the Huntsman poster
Snow White and the Huntsman
2012 Β· dir. Rupert Sanders
πŸ… 48%β˜… 6.1adventure Β· fantasy Β· drama

Both are built on the same subject: immortality

The difference: Played as drama first

After the Evil Queen marries the King, she performs a violent coup in which the King is murdered and his daughter, Snow White, is taken captive. Almost a decade later, a grown Snow White is still in the clutches of the Queen. In order to obtain immortality, The Evil Queen needs the heart of Snow White. After Snow escapes the castle, the Queen sends the Huntsman to find her in the Dark Forest.

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Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame poster
πŸ… 80%β˜… 6.6action Β· adventure Β· drama

Mystery with a pulse of twists, in both cases

The difference: Leans further into action

When the future empress Wu Zetian's two courtiers die in a mysterious fire, she gets Di Renjie, a former detective and rebel, released from prison to solve the mystery of the fire.

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Mirage poster
Mirage
2018 Β· dir. Oriol Paulo
β˜… 7.4thriller Β· drama Β· mystery

Fantasy built on dream logic, twice over

During a mysterious thunderstorm, Vera, a young mother, manages to save a life in danger, but her good deed causes a disturbing chain of unexpected consequences.

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Forbidden Empire poster
Forbidden Empire
2014 Β· dir. Oleg Stepchenko
β˜… 5.2thriller Β· adventure Β· mystery

Both lean on scale more than on adventure

Early 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Europe to the East. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassible woods. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that. The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world.

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Meshes of the Afternoon poster
Meshes of the Afternoon
1943 Β· dir. Maya Deren
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.8mystery Β· fantasy

Dreamlike mystery, and it commits to that

The difference: Made in the 1940s, in a different era of the craft

A woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen.

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Highlander poster
Highlander
1986 Β· dir. Russell Mulcahy
πŸ… 70%β˜… 7adventure Β· action Β· fantasy

One thread runs through both: immortality

He fought his first battle on the Scottish Highlands in 1536. He will fight his greatest battle on the streets of New York City in 1986. His name is Connor MacLeod. He is immortal.

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Red Riding Hood poster
Red Riding Hood
2011 Β· dir. Catherine Hardwicke
πŸ… 10%β˜… 5.4thriller Β· drama Β· fantasy

Fantasy with a pulse of twists, in both cases

Valerie is in love with a brooding outsider, Peter, but her parents have arranged for her to marry another man. Unwilling to lose each other, Valerie and Peter plan to run away together when Valerie's older sister is killed by a werewolf that prowls the dark forest surrounding their village. Panic grips the town as Valerie discovers that she has a unique connection to the beast--one that inexorably draws them together, making her both suspect ... and bait.

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Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio poster
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
2022 Β· dir. Mark Gustafson
πŸ… 27%β˜… 7.6animation Β· fantasy Β· adventure

Both are adventure through and through

During the rise of fascism in Mussolini's Italy, a wooden boy brought magically to life struggles to live up to his father's expectations.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus’ defining feeling.