Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Wow Jeff Bridges must get asked about this character as much as the Dude. I for one went and read the book AFTER i saw the film. 2006 I THINK. & the book is a work of genius. So how brave to make a film from such source material as this. Not easy. And its not an easy watch. I saw it at 2 am at my parents house after a day of swimming, so it REALLY transported me out of the holiday like home I was enjoying so luxuriously ! I heard this film caused people to walk out because the brilliant actress who carries the whole movie was prepping the works for her daddy. Well he WAS an errant junkie rockstar has been, lives with his stripper junkie wife & yes the young daughter is supposed to be 12 or something but come on! I am sooooo glad that i DIDN'T read the book first and didnt know a thing about this film when i fell down the rabbit hole.made it SO much better and i never knew where it would go or how it may make me feel, that's great filmmaking. Being unpredictable is hard for most filmmakers. I dont love every film Gilliam made but hes a solid 9 out of 10 hahaha so this a test. If you can find the beauty and sweetness in this creepy sunny yet crazy world of Jeliza-Rose her crazy new neighbours etc., you are in my tribe. She reminded me of me and so did her dolls! See it. Then see it with SOMEONE else...you can thank me in firefly sparks...Book was wondrous too! You wull never forget this one. Thats for sure.

The main trouble with this movie is simple - it is boring and not very captivating. Like Jean-Pierre Jeunets Delicatessen and the like the movie depicts a world filled with weird characters but Tideland does it in a bad way - I didn't feel any empathy for them - strangeness for the sake of strangeness... How its well done to portray a little girl fleeing into her personal fantasy-world to cope with the harsh circumstances of her world is shown in Guillermo del Toros Pans Labyrinth superb. If you compare those two pieces you will see immediately the difference - which movie is a masterpiece and which one a fail or at best a mediocre attempt and to compare this story with Alice in Wonderland counts imo almost as blasphemy ;) Ofc Gillaims is no newbie - the basics (cinematography, settings etc.) are well done and also the actors did there job well - and if the young Jodelle Ferland wouldn't have filled her shoes well, this movie would have been a total fail.

Just got done with this movie and I must say it drags on somewhat, similar to the way Fear and Loathing did for me. The dialogue is done in a way that it defies you to listen to it and absorb anything. I tried to watch Fear and Loathing 3 times and could never finish it. I finished Tideland, but it wasn't that great. I will say Jodelle Ferland and Brendan Fletcher are SUPERB in their roles as Jeliza Rose and Dickens, but it feels like 2 great performances in a boring, supposed-to-shock-me, Natural Born Killers-esque affair that has already been done. Then again, the film challenges me in that I am appalled that I am not appalled by the things I see here, so it has some social merit, of sorts.Overall, my feeling is that Terry Gilliam's best work is long behind him, like 12 Monkeys and Brazil, Time Bandits, Python, etc. I think sometimes filmmakers get older and lose their edge, falling victim to sentimentality, and it changes their art (usually for the worse, imho.) It is beginning to seem this is the case with Gilliam. I didn't like Imaginarium, either, btw. I saw That before I saw this.

This movie moved, repulsed and disturbed me. As I watched I found myself cringe, recoil in horror, dread for Jeliza Roses's fate and saddened by all the pain, misery and confusion that that child was exposed to, with no one to care for her but egotistical adults and deranged madmen. In an emotional level I responded tremendously to the movie and although a good deal of these responses were less than agreeable, the fact that this film produced such stimuli in my person proves that it has heart to spare- a mean, bashing, horrific,depressing and sad heart it may be but a heart nonetheless. I can only suggest this film to brave movie buffs who are willing to subject themselves to the one of the most bizarre, terrifying and moving experiences of their life. My congratulations to Gilliam for directing yet another brave and stimulating film... even if it may very well become yet another obstacle in Gilliam's already endangered film career.