Big Fish (2003)

• Year: 2003
• Released: 09 Jan 2004
• Country: United States
• Adwords: Nominated for 1 Oscar. 69 nominations total
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319061/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Big_Fish
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/big-fish
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English, Cantonese
• MPA Rating: PG-13
• Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
• Runtime: 125 min
• Writer: Daniel Wallace, John August
• Director: Tim Burton
• Cast: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup
• Keywords: parent child relationship, witch, relationship, cancer, love of one’s life,

	8.0/10
	58/100

Big Fish Storyline

United Press International journalist Will Bloom and his French freelance photojournalist wife Josephine Bloom, who is pregnant with their first child, leave their Paris base to return to Will’s hometown of Ashton, Alabama on the news that his father, Edward Bloom, stricken with cancer, will soon die, he being taken off chemotherapy treatment. Although connected indirectly through Will’s mother/Edward’s wife, Sandra Bloom, Will has been estranged from his father for three years since his and Josephine’s wedding. Will’s issue with his father is the fanciful tales Edward has told of his life all his life, not only to Will but the whole world. As a child when Edward was largely absent as a traveling salesman, Will believed those stories, but now realizes that he does not know his father, who, as he continues to tell these stories, he will never get to know unless Edward comes clean with the truth before he dies. On the brink of his own family life beginning, Will does not want to be the kind of father Edward has been to him. One of those stories from Edward’s childhood – that he saw his own death in the glass eye of a witch – led to him embracing life since he would not have to fear death knowing when and how it would eventually come. The question is whether Will will be able to reconcile Edward’s stories against his real life, either directly from Edward before he dies and/or from other sources, and thus allow Will to come to a new understanding of himself and his life, past, present and future.

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Big Fish Movie Reviews

Lyrical.

Tim Burton continues to demonstrate his maturation as a director despite having a soft spot for the fantastic and the weird.

It’s probably not a surprise that this film would receive generally mixed-to-good reviews but was virtually ignored by the Academy. It’s a little too visually eccentric for its own good and that somehow translates as a film that uses beautiful images as its means to tell a story, and that in 2003 was not quite the type of movies that were being told with the exception of LORD OF THE RINGS which in itself is a triumph of effects serving a story, albeit deeply rooted in fantasy, but not too dissimilar to this one.

Tall tales are a part of Americana. Here they come under the guise of hilarious situations and extremely poignant, compassionate moments. Essentially, this is a humanist fable dressed in deep, poetic magic realism, because it’s the story of a man who is dying and who has one last thing to do.

This man is Ed Bloom (Albert Finney), and he’s over the years become estranged from his son William (Billy Crudup) because William has gotten increasingly jaded from these tall stories Ed tells him over and over again. We can call it the syndrome of someone who has lost touch with his inner self and has accommodated himself to the norms of Society and what It considers “normal” and “acceptable.”

In his last days he recollects his memories from his much younger days (played by Ewan McGregor) when he hadn’t found his calling until he came across a witch (Helena Bonham Carter) who foretold him his future. From then on he had what can be called a “hell of a life,” going from seemingly implausible adventure to another. These exaggerated tales infuriates William until a crucial event forces him to acknowledge the essence of the matter — Ed Bloom’s reality — and in one overwhelming tour de force of direction, William (clumsily at first, but then more sure of himself) creates his own storytelling, which I won’t talk about. Suffice it is to say that its transition into reality is one of the most beautiful and moving sequences I’ve seen.

This is by far one of the best films Tim Burton has made in his curriculum of offbeat films. Solid performances are in leaps and bounds from the main actors to minor players — the sad expression of a circus clown who has to shoot Ed because the wolf he is about to kill is actually Amos Calloway is a haunting shot, for example. Jessica Lange’s quiet scene in a bathtub filled with water, hugging Ed and weeping. Alison Lohman caught in a frozen moment of time, which enhances her beauty. The moment when William re-enacts his own story and “carries” Ed out of the hospital which segues into the otherworldly, emotional climax. A beautiful ensemble piece, with otherworldly images, this is only second to LORD OF THE RINGS, a distant cousin, in absolute beauty and simplicity of its message.

Sweet, imaginative and moving

I will admit I like Tim Burton, and have enjoyed a vast majority of his films, Edward Scissorhands, Beetle Juice, Batman and Ed Wood. Big Fish is I think one of Burton’s better movies in my personal opinion, maybe not his very best, but it is a very sweet, imaginative and moving film. Here Burton delves into familiar territory, a strange place between reality and fantasy, dream and nightmare. The story is really sweet, and while slow at times, does have a poignant ending. The visuals as pretty much always in a Tim Burton film are gorgeous, not Gothic here like in Sleepy Hollow and Edward Scissorhands but evergreen and picturesque. The scenery was beautiful and so was the cinematography, and Danny Elfman’s score is stunning. His score for Edward Scissorhands blew me away, but the lyrical, sensitive and hypnotic themes used here make it a score that is truly special. The screenplay is well crafted, and has a bittersweet feel to it. Sentimental yes, but also bittersweet. The acting is remarkably good, with Ewan McGregor making for a handsome yet somewhat charming young Edward Bloom, and the wonderful Albert Finney a revelation as his older self. Billy Crudup is excellent as the son who is intent on exposing his father, and sets out to learn the truth, and Danny DeVito is great as the shape-changing circus ringmaster. Jessica Lange is beautiful and alluring as Sandra and Helena Bonham Carter is almost unrecognisable as the Witch. Then there is Alison Lohman, Marion Cottilard, Robert Guillaume and Matthew McGory(as Karl the Giant) and they are very good as well. Overall, I loved this film, it is moving and very imaginative. 9.5/10 Bethany Cox

Burton does Forrest Gump – with middling results

BIG FISH is Tim Burton’s attempt to do a whimsical flight-of-fancy movie based around an old guy on his death bed telling tall tales to his son. It’s as simplistic as that, and it feels a bit like one of the Pee Wee films although without the irritating main character. Basically the viewer gets a ride through Burton’s imagination with all of the kookiness and weird characters we’ve come to expect from the director.

This feels a little like a Coen brothers movie in places although without the wit. It’s not a very good film, purely because I didn’t like the main characters. The smug Ewan McGregor has long been a bane in my life and he doesn’t change my opinion of him here; plus that Southern accent sounds fake even to this British viewer. Albert Finney is little better in a role that pretty much any old actor could have played. The only one I liked was Billy Crudup, who I have never seen playing a nice, ordinary chap before.

The nature of the tall tales and adventures is rather ordinary and the various romantic sub-plots are entirely boring. Once again we get Helena Bonham Carter turning up underneath various prosthetic work and various cameos from the likes of Danny DeVito and good old Steve Buscemi. Some of the interludes are surprisingly racist in their depiction of Asian cultures and others seem to take pride in circus culture and the exploitation of animals that goes with it. Needless to say I found none of the whimsical humour funny at all. Burton’s on definite autopilot with this one.