As it turns out, someone went out to find Gilliam, and not the other way around. "The Brothers Grimm" was not a Gilliam original, and he was not called on to the set until after the first director left. This series of events, while potentially great (we get to see another Gilliam film) were also potentially disastrous, for Gilliam (other than "12 Monkeys", I believe) had only ever worked on his own material before, and I feared going in, a sense of detachment from this story. With some directors, like Wayne Wang, this would not be a big deal, but TG's style is such that he must be passionate about his movie in order for it turn out right; hence the going over-budget in the name of perfection.
My fear did not come true, however, as Gilliam took a completely different route than I had expected. Instead of feeling a distance from the material, I believe he wanted to put as much of himself as he could into the picture; make it as much of a "Terry Gilliam” film as possible. It's as though the creativity was building in him during the years of inactivity, and "The Brothers Grimm" was like an orgasmic release of the inspired insanity that fans of his work have missed all of this time.
What really hurts is that the movie just doesn't work. It's a terrible script with annoying characters, and a meandering plot that doesn't make sense. While being good material for Gilliam to work on in the sense of its fantasy elements, no one, not even him, could make a good picture out of it. It is overlong, and all over the place and the comedy is extremely hit-and-miss.
I say this, but I honestly really did enjoy "The Brothers Grimm". Even though it doesn't work, there are moments of amazing visual creativity that I loved, and some crazy violence that I wasn't expecting. The fact that Terry Gilliam really tried his best with a movie that I assume he knew wasn't great, is something that I will not hesitate to appreciate. He really just wanted to entertain his audience in a way only he can. I can only hope that he gets another chance with material that is his own.
