User reviews

Having just finished watching this, and then reading the other reviews I am at a loss for all the fuss about the sub par special effects. They looked a lot better than the 250 million dollar Oz the Great and Powerful, which felt sadly fake in near every scene, and both movies are fantasy, so I saw nothing lacking in the special effects. The dialog in the opening of the movie for about 20 minutes is really just not great, but being a fan of Nightwish I stayed with the movie, and was glad to do so by the halfway mark. The other reviewers pointed out the homages so I will skip them. Coming at this film after seeing Tommy, The Wall, and Harry Potter films, I was not left in the lurch as many were about what was going on. I knew darn well I was seeing symbolism at every turn and was enthralled by it. The scene where the generations overlap in their pain was pure brilliance on the screen. I had never seen optics used in such a way to juxtapose two time periods and create a mood while still piling on the symbolism to even deeper meanings. The skipped words between characters in certain scenes is tasty for those who like being appreciated by the filmmakers to be smart enough to recognize what they were - like with the combination. It may not start out tidy but it gets that way. I was surprised by the idea that it was a movie with music and not a music movie. I was under the impression it would be more like Tommy than The Wall, it's not. The brief appearances by the band did leave me wanting way more, because I am fan of the group, but it didn't hurt the movie a bit. If only the beginning was as good as the rest I would give it all the stars, but it does open so poorly it would not be honest.

So I found this by googling horror on prime, it's no way a horror, it's so much more. A little over stylised in places, but generally a thoroughly enjoyable film. Sort of a pans labyrinth meets still Alice. Liked it

Reading all these great reviews with super-ratings, I just had to watch this movie. I love Nightwish, I love visualized trips into the human mind (like The Cell or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and I like the dark touch these movies have. But Imaginaerum was rather disappointing. It's trying to be that very deep movie, with the heavy, meaningful images. But the longer you watch and the more you learn from the plot, the more you realize: it's not. It's just a very long, sad and melancholic Music Video.

Of course you might shed a tear near the ending but that doesn't make up for the rest of the film.

Especially the enforced appearances of the band are very misplaced. They (mostly!) just don't fit in! Those scenes are turning a not so bad movie into a Music Video.

Watch it if you are bored but don't expect too much. It gets five stars for being very average, good special effects, okay story, bad band placements. And no, it's definitely not a movie for kids! Unless you want your child watch a closeup head-shot.

This very imaginary film is the most visionary depiction of dementia you'll ever see. A Tim-Burton-ish fantasy musical adventure, this is very unique and very different. At first glance not everything will make sense, so the film definitely deserves more than one viewing. If you're a Nightwish fan, there's the added bonus of the band members performing in the film as well. Their music was toned down and very effective. The film's visuals is striking and there's some really awesome super slow motion photography. What an absolutely beautiful film!

I have been a Nightwish fan for a long time. They're a perfect mix of sweeping epic, magical lyrics and deep, layered music that has the ability to take you on a journey. So when I heard they were going to make a whole movie giving visuals and form to their latest album, Imaginaerum, I was understandably hyped. Sure the limited budget would mean that it wouldn't be visually on par with Hollywood blockbusters, but Tuomas Holopainen is a man with such imagination that I trusted him to deliver a story I wouldn't soon forget.

And I wasn't disappointed. Imaginaerum, the movie, is a unique-looking creation that fits the mood and feel of the album remarkably well, breathing life into the grand story that the album only hints at. It's a story of a songwriter's death, the coldness of loneliness, abandonment and the ability of music to tell stories and to express what we would otherwise hide and be unable to put into words. It's also an homage to many things Holopainen holds dear to his heart. The Snowman, Neil Gaiman, Salvador Dali, magical realism, jazz, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are only a few things given a nod by this film. It's a convoluted mix of reverences, genuine storytelling and something new, but strangely enough at the end it all pulls together and paints a picture.

Yet the film isn't exactly what I imagined it'd be. I thought it would simply be a really long music video, or an actual musical if you will, with the tracks from the album being played in order, telling a story. It's not, though, and I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not. The actual music by Nightwish is used a bit haltingly. A song surges every now and then, only to die away when the scene changes, as it is a very fast-paced film. This is most apparent at the beginning. Later on there are longer music numbers, and those are great. The rest of the screen time is used to tell a story about a dying songwriter, his daughter and their life as seen through found and lost memories. And the story is not half bad. Personally I would have preferred to have a musical instead of it, but... oranges and apples.

Who would enjoy this film? Any fan of Nightwish, naturally, but I'd also recommend it to anyone who appreciates gorgeous music, dark and Gothic visuals, magical realism and stories that delve deep into imagination.

Imaginaerum was a random pick & mix movie I went into knowing nothing and was immediatly struck by how good everything looked. This Finnish made title looks like a AAA Hollywood movie except here the rest of the quality matches.

Otherwise known as the Nightwish movie as it was scored & soundtracked by the Finnish band, this is a dark fairytale that really took me by surprise.

It tells the story of a man in his final hours living a bizzare fantasy in his head while his embittered daughter deals with his condition in her own way.

It is a true visual treat that though very fragmented and not the easiest movie to follow does in fact have an outstanding payoff and all comes together in the end.

Looking great, sounding fantastic and with a story that comes together this beautifully my one criticism was that I wanted it to continue for longer.

A wonderful movie worthy of anyone and everyones attention.

The Good:

Visually stunning

Fantastic soundtrack

Devastatingly well written

The Bad:

Should have perhaps been longer

Couple of weak moments that damage the flow

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I should start listening to more Nightwish

I'm not a Nightwish fan. I haven't heard a peep about this movie til I watched it. But having come across it, I was pleasantly surprised. Imaginaerum isn't a flimsy band cash-in, but a stand-alone film, enjoyable by metal and non-metal viewers alike.

Imaginaerum is a fantasy film, a world inside a fading musician's mind. These kinds of movies can be annoying sits for me. But Imaginaerum actually has rhyme and reason to its bizarre images. Heck, they probably explain too much! There is a lot of exposition dialog. By the end of the movie, you get a good grasp of this guy's life and torments. The effects are pretty good, considering the film's budget. I've seen films with over 10 times the money look way worse.

I could have enjoyed delving further into the relationships. The music could have been better, although it was far from awful. Regardless, if you loved films like Pan's Labyrinth or The Fountain, I think this one will quench your thirst.

In few words Imaginaerum is a dive into a man's surreal dark dreams with superior strengths in terms of powerful images and music and some minor weaknesses in character development and acting. What may appear as another childish adventure at first quickly develops into an emotionally demanding journey dealing with very adult conflicts on a metaphorical and artistic level.

In detail Imaginaerum starts off rather associative. Really strong pictures and music (reminding me of Tim Burton movies) guide the audience from the very first second deep down the rabbit hole. The Scenery is especially impressive considering the budget of the movie. While technically being a convincing and easy show, scene jumps and plot appear rather cryptic at first. The movie succeeds at creating a rough and positively incomplete idea of the plot in your head quickly and developing that idea scene by scene throughout the whole movie without letting anything become too obvious or boring. The basic ideas appear metaphorical, yet decipherable and believable. I might add that Imaginaerum demands much (but not too much) of the viewer rationally as well as emotionally: It requires active thinking to follow the central plot and it is necessary to apply yourself to the emotions of the movie to understand the scenes. Not doing so will greatly decrease the value of the experience (and may result in questionable reviews some might have read so far).

The only downside to me is that there was unutilized potential of even deeper character development. They all started interesting but ended a little abrupt. In addition I was not totally convinced by some character acting. In some moments I got that "There is an actor playing a character"-feel which shouldn't come up. Surprisingly it didn't affect emotion and meaning of the movie too much so I can overlook that weakness easily. Having mentioned weaknesses I also want to mention that there were many great moments in terms of acting as well. For example I really enjoyed the great performance of actor Tuomas Holopainen!

Imaginaerum as a "band-movie": I don't consider myself a Nightwish fan even though I don't dislike their music. I was positively surprised that Imaginaerum, in contrast to other band movies, did not make it a 2 hours narcissistic music video. A few times the band is on screen but only adding positively to the atmosphere.

As being someone who enjoys strong images, demanding plots and artistic implementations I totally recommend this movie to my friends and to you. I advise parents to be cautious showing Imaginaerum to children, as some scenes "can be disturbing" (as other reviewers already mentioned) and the movie as a whole may be hard to understand. I personally recommend this above 12 years of age.

Nightwish is one of my favorite bands; however, I was highly disappointed with this film. It was a poor attempt to visualize their music. They might have been better off making it a musical or long music video. This film seemed to try too hard to be "deep" while also trying too hard at fitting in the music. Within the first 10 to 15 minutes of the movie, the audience already knows the entire premise. I kept watching in the hope that at the music would make up for it, but it did not. The music was a bit scattered and not well featured. As a result, Nightwish's valid attempt at cinema lacked on all aspects (There was not much acting to take into consideration.).

A movie for fans of nightwish only. I was waiting for this one, only to be disappointed... I like nightwish music too but let's keep it that way... I really don't know what to say for this movie if you can even call it a movie of course, boring story, boring plot, uninteresting characters. The acting is OK, the FX are good, but in the end the movie does not make it in the long run... I found myself trying not to fall asleep through the whole movie and the nightwish music parts are just out of place. The music which is a BIG point of this movie just doesn't fit with more of the scenes! The album itself was good but only for a music album not for movie. That's just my humble opinion so...

Imaginaerum is one of those movies that will leave you confused for the first hour in to the movie. The bits and pieces of the soon fading memories of Thomas Whitman will confuse you and give more questions than answers. The last quarter of the movie will offer some explanations, but some will remain and the gaps in the life of Thomas Whitman are left up to the viewer to imagine.

The special effects are beautiful, but cannot compete with Hollywood movies with multi-million dollar budgets. Actors do their jobs pretty well, but some of them are not as convincing as you would like. Especially the young Gem Whitman leaves something to be desired. Francis X. McCarthy on the other hand is very convincing playing the role of the old demented song writer Thomas Whitman.

If you are a Nightwish fan, you'll get a kick out of this movie. If you have never heard of the band called Nightwish, you might enjoy it anyway if you are one of those people who like the fact that not everything is clear at the very beginning.

Overall, the movie is very touching once you get into it. It's not one of those "leave your brains at the door" movies because you really have to think and try to identify with the characters. With this movie, you can't expect things to be handed to you on a silver platter. Though something else might be...

I had expected a drawn out music video - after all, it was a movie created by a music band. Instead, it was a full feature film about a demented old man trying to hold on to the good memories of his life before he dies and an estranged daughter that needs to reconcile with him. The motifs in the film are interesting, psychologically, but other than that, there is not much happening. Also, musically it has the soundtrack from Nightwish and a couple of actual songs with the band playing, but nothing spectacular, either.

In a way it is a Finnish version of What Dreams May Come, but not that good and smaller in scope. The theme is dark and cold (Finland, eh?) and the beautiful visuals are contrasting starkly with the ominous mood. Anette Olzon singing weird songs while clowns are harassing the child version of the old man doesn't help either :)

I find it difficult to find a simple bottom line for this film, indicating that it has an original quality that puts it apart from other films. I can recommend it on that point alone. However it also fails by having not enough of I had expected from it. The music is good, but it could have been more prominent, having a larger role in the film and the plot. The imagination of the man cursed with dementia leads to wonderful visuals, but they are too passive, with the inner child merely a passenger rather than an actor. And removing those two elements leaves you with a skeleton of a film that doesn't shine neither through scripting nor good acting.

So my bottom line has to be that I liked the film, but I felt it missed its point by a small margin. Great potential, barely good implementation.

I went to Hartwall to see the premiere on 10/11-2012. As a longtime fan of the band it was really exciting too see if they could transform a great celebration to life such as the album Imaginaerum to a full time (almoast) movie. They did! For all nightwish fans this is a must see. For others that don't know much about Nightwish this is a weird movie indeed. A mixture of The classic Snowman (1982) and some Tim Burton mixed with Holopainens (I guess) fear for what will happened after his roller-coaster has stopped with Nightwish. The Imaginaerum album is for me an emotional journey within myself. The movie projects that journey to Whitman thankfully. (My fear was that the movie should touch me as deeply as the album. But thankfully it did not. ) Still its a great Nightwish movie and the score is also beautifully arranged. I believe the movie will have some reference audio class for the home movie enthusiast. Could be wrong, but the sound and volume was impressive in Hartwall! And if you like me also love the moodier instrumental arrangements by Nightwish you must go buy The Score. Animations (lots of them and green screen effects) was also well done if you consider the budget. A great step forward compared to the Nightwish videos you have seen with animations.

I love Finland, I love Nightwish, and I love their songs. Good story, bad acting, and excellent soundtrack. That's all my point. (Hope you guys find some of their CDs to listen. They are really really amazing.) I'd rather considered it as a very long music video than a film.The film tells a story about a man who lost in his dream,and how he tries to get rid of it.Sounds like a fairy tale but there's another story hidden.It's about father's love,and more,dealing with the suffering of lost his families(Maybe more,i don't know)And that's why I don't think it was a good film.It's true that it tells us a wonderful story and show us plenty of fantastic scenes,but we should not neglect the fact that it was busy of telling stories and show the great scenes which made us forget to find the emotions deep inside.(I don't know how to tell my feelings.)But still,I want to say,I love the band,I love Nightwish.

splendid homage for life. must see for Nightwish band fans. and a splendid show. its root - a music album but the message, the poetry of images, the references to other movies, the delicacy of details, the trip of Tom to himself are good points for enjoy a complete show. a show about the past and about sacrifice, about music and about love. like a fairy tale , it is a way to discover basic values. and for understand in profound manner the world. a film about miracle. and beauty. about revelations and emotions. useful for a part of its public, interesting for others . but fascinating for the precision. a Nightwish film. as message. as show. as a kind of confession. see it !

This move has a number of elements that are phenomenal, however for every element that is notably beautiful, there is an element of the movie that suffers.

As most of the audience is here because the movie is essentially created by and for Nightwish, the music excellent, but no surprises there. Though I was surprised and pleased to see that the music was subtle where it needed to be and grand where the opportunity presented itself. The music fits the film rather than the film fitting the music.

The visual effects is astonishingly outstanding too. Many low-budget films skimp on the budget for this department, and it's always clear and distracting when they do. The gradeur of the landscapes and the detail and animation of Mr. White added, rather than distracted, to the movie. It was clear that the film makers gave a great deal of attention and funding to the visual effects in order to enhance the "audiovisual trip" (Marco's words) the band wanted create.

The over-arching story and its themes are some of the best and my favorite aspects of this movie. Not suprising for those who are familiar with the strengths and works of Tuomas Holopainen's genius. The story is grand and fantastical, but still very human.

But I think the film makers' sights were so focused on the big picture, or "audiovisual trip," that many of the details, which help flesh-out a story, were neglected or underfunded in favor of other elements.

The script certainly needed fine-tuning. A number of scenes, dialogue/monologues, and lines were very jarringly written in as information for the audience, a segway into the next story element, or something to propel the story forward. Some tweaking could have had the dialogue and scenes flowing and blending much more naturally.

Which would have made the actors' jobs easier. But despite some of the scripts more awkward parts, the actors pleasantly surprised me. For the most part, their performances were immersive. However, in some of the lines and scenes that demanded more of an emotional performance, it comes off as either disingenuous, plain fake, or underwhelming. I feel like a more experienced director could have helped in this regard.

Better directing and/or producing would have immensely helped to hide or close the gaps that a small budget just can't cover. Particularly the elements that are primarily in play for and during shooting.

Some of the set and wardrobe design definitely could added much more to the visual elements of the film than they did. I found myself having difficulty buying into the scenes that take place in reality. The scenes that are part of the "imaginaerum" are able to get away with more due to the fact that they are fantasy. Additionally, the costume, prop, and set designs and constructions were notably simple and obviously cheap at times.

Lighting, photography, and editing were sufficient, but nothing considerably noteworthy. Which is a shame because these aspect should have further helped to camouflage the simple and cheap sets and costumes, as well as add to the splendor and beauty of the scenes set in the "imaginaerum."

This movie could have been something truly spectacular, but it suffered due to its small and unbalanced budget.