Tim Burton's Big Fish: A+
BY PATRICIA DRAZNIN
Young Ed Bloom (Ewan McGregor) visits the lost town of Spectre in Tim Burton’s
Big Fish. © 2003 Columbia Pictures.
ED BLOOM NEVER MET A fact he couldn’t embellish. A self-described
big fish in a small Alabama town, Bloom (Albert Finney) is the quintessential
storyteller who would never belittle the facts by telling a mundane truth.
Bloom’s wife (Jessica Lange) adores her husband and his wildly romantic
imagination. But Ed’s grown son Will (Billy Crudup) has been frustrated
all his life to never know his real dad, the man behind the tall tales. And
now that Ed is old and ill, Will begs his father to share something real—good,
bad, or indifferent, just something true.
A delightful dose of fantasy makes this movie refreshing and unpredictable.
The account of Ed Bloom’s life, according to the big fish himself,
is played by Ewan McGregor. The flashback via storybookland includes a
host of memorable characters such as a circus ringmaster (Danny DeVito),
a witch (Helena Bonham Carter), and a seven-foot giant. Director Tim Burton
was born for this assignment. Renowned for his fertile domain of unusual
people such as Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice, and Batman, Burton launches
this imaginative tale out of the Daniel Wallace novel and onto the big
screen.
Big Fish takes us on an uncharted odyssey down forbidden roads—into
a strange and magical town of barefoot inhabitants, into the peculiar world
of the circus, and to the meeting of Bloom and his future wife. A repeating
theme is the reference to a large fish that only Bloom has encountered,
a story that ultimately threads the film together in a brilliant and satisfying
way.
Big Fish is an original story that consistently delivers the unexpected,
including one of cinema’s most poignantly human moments. Kudos to
Daniel Wallace’s simple and entertaining creation that chases an
unconventional trajectory to a zinger of an ending. And bravo to Tim Burton
for bringing this insightful and magical tale to life.
But in all fairness, let’s say there are no guarantees here; this
movie either speaks to you or it doesn’t. But if it does, you will
find yourself laughing and crying and gaining some fresh insight
into human nature. And you might very well leave the theater believing
in big fish.
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