Big Fish Reviews

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

Ed Bloom Senior (Albert Finney)is on his dying bed in his last few days and his son comes back to be with him for his final journey. They haven't gotten along for a long time and he (Billy Crudup) seeks to understand his father's life choices through the final stories Ed Senior tells him on his death bed.
It's a simple story that will not fail to touch the hearts of most you that will watch it.
Choices: Do we do what we want or what we must? Do we satisfy our sense of adventure or do we crush it because it doesn't fullfill someone else's needs? Do we sit and explain all our actions to our loved ones or do we hope that their love for us will help them understand?
For the men out there, growing up did you get along with your dad? I sure know I didn't. We were never on the same page. Magically as I got older the book seemed to change and in my mid twenties I started to undertand my dad and why he did the things he did.
The movie did touch me emotionly as my own dad is now dying and I wish I had taken the time to know him better and wish we hadn't had so many disagreements.
"Big Fish" sums up a lot of father-son relationships and it's worth seeing if you haven't already done so.

Tim Burton -- who made ''Pee-Wee's Big Adventure,'' ''Edward Scissorhands'' and the first two ''Batman'' movies, among others -- is surely one of the most prodigiously imaginative filmmakers around. His best movies glide effortlessly from devilish whimsy to startling perversity, and even when his storytelling falters his inimitably strange visual sensibility leaves its haunting, humorous traces on the memory.

There are, true to form, some startling scenes in his new movie, ''Big Fish'': the hero's arrival in a hamlet called Specter, where the streets are paved with grass and the citizens are always barefoot; his encounter with a witch (Helena Bonham Carter) whose glass eye can reveal the future; his appearance on a campus quadrangle carpeted with daffodils.

The movie also includes, for good measure, a giant named Karl, a squad of circus folk (led by Danny DeVito), a pair of conjoined Korean twins and some menacing, anthropomorphic trees. The theme of ''Big Fish,'' adapted by John August from the novel by Daniel Wallace, is the transforming, sometimes bewildering power of the imagination, which would seem to be a natural subject for Mr. Burton. But the most curious thing about this magical-realist fable, which opens today in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto, is how thin and soft it is, how unpersuasive and ultimately forgettable even its most strenuous inventions turn out to be.

The hero is Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman, who, though he comes from a small town in Alabama, is played as a young man by Ewan McGregor, who is Scottish, and in his later years by Albert Finney, who is English. These two actors (their Southern accents, by the way, are not bad at all) share a robust sense of mischief that overcomes their physical differences. You have no trouble imagining Mr. McGregor mellowing and thickening into Mr. Finney.

Edward, who personifies the bumptious, mythic American life force, is devoted to shading and embellishing the truth. He is an inveterate spinner of what Tom Sawyer, one of his literary ancestors, liked to call stretchers. Edward's oft-repeated, never-verified tall tales, including his signature yarn, the fish story that gives the movie its title, are endlessly charming, except to his son, Will (Billy Crudup), who finds them so exasperating that he stops speaking to his father for several years.

Will is a news-agency reporter in Paris, a suitably empirical profession for the rebellious son of a fabulist father. A phone call summons Will back home to Alabama for a deathbed reconciliation, during which Edward elaborates his fairy-tale biography. In his telling, the usual stations of the life cycle -- departure from home, courtship (of the lovely Alison Lohman, whose character ages gracefully into Jessica Lange), fatherhood, an accidental foray into crime -- become wild episodes in a sprawling picaresque adventure. If only. Even though Will's warmhearted French wife (Marion Cotillard) and his soft-eyed mother (Ms. Lange) hang indulgently on Edward's every word, his stories are so labored, so self-flattering and ultimately so pointless that it is hard not to feel some sympathy for Will, who grew up in his father's shadow and, for much of his childhood, in his absence.

From time to time, a glimmer of real drama shines through all the twinkly sentiment. The conflict between father and son is the most, perhaps the only, believable element in the story, but the movie is so thoroughly bewitched by Edward that it makes Will look like a cold fish who stubbornly refuses to accept his father for what he is. At one point, Edward's doctor (Robert Guillaume) suggests that Edward's stories are preferable to the banal facts of ordinary life. Wouldn't Will prefer to believe that, on the day of his birth, his dad was subduing a legendary catfish rather than selling household gadgets in Wichita?

The movie insists that the only possible answer is yes, and thus chooses maudlin moonshine over engagement with the difficulties of real life, which is exactly the choice Edward has made. Its vision of America, of the South in particular, during the last four decades or so has been scrubbed clean of any social or political messiness, much as the life of the Bloom family, notwithstanding Will's poutiness, has been burnished to a warm, happy glow. In their eagerness to celebrate Edward's grand spirit, the filmmakers wind up diminishing it, declining to explore the causes or the costs of his addiction to fantasy.

In the past Mr. Burton's images have had a touch of the uncanny, as though they were windows onto the scary, marvelous landscape of the unconscious. ''Big Fish'' lacks the resonance of his earlier work partly because this time the bright, antic inventions are a form of denial. The film insists on viewing its hero as an affectionate, irrepressible raconteur. From where I sat, he looked more like an incorrigible narcissist and also, perhaps, a compulsive liar, whose love for others is little more than overflowing self-infatuation. But all this might be forgivable -- everyone else in the picture thinks so -- if Edward were not also a bit of a bore.
NYT

''They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops, and that's true. What they don't tell you is that when it starts again, it moves extra fast to catch up.''

A story about a son trying to learn more about his dying father by reliving stories his father told him about himself.

Ewan McGregor: Ed Bloom - Young

Albert Finney: Ed Bloom - Senior

Directed by Tim Burton, adapted from Daniel Wallace's novel and John August's wondrous screenplay comes illustrious, romanticized, as big as life itself Big Fish. This is truly Tim Burton's most personal, deepest stab at answering and explaining the depths and complexities of life and death. You can also see his own coping with a lost love one, in essence the loss of his father and how it effected him. Burton lovingly converts and adapts this emotional, humourous journey between father and son.
Edward Bloom is a fantastical storyteller whom becomes in the eyes of his son, a liar. The truth in fact is something both need to come to terms with.



The beauty and what sets Big Fish into a classic and something of a cult film is how everyone whom watches it, Burton fan or not can relate and sympathize with proceedings. For all it's fantastical, dreamy, escapism Big Fish is also duly realistic and full of characters echoing believability and resonance hand in hand.
The cast in the guise of Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney essentially playing the same man. Ewan the younger version and Albert the older version, both reflecting and mirroring each other with effective results; Which also adds to the glory of Big Fish.
Helena Bonham Carter pops up playing multiple parts and does what she does best; Acts and shines. Although relatively small parts she still results in being memorable.
Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Marion Cotillard and even whimsical Steve Buscemi all add flavour and fun to proceedings while being living, breathing, effective characters in their own right.

What's lovely about Big Fish is that it isn't trying to be anything but honest in it's depictions of fantasy and imagination merging with solidity and real life. At times the two are like lovers always striving to be with each other and also dead and lifeless when the other is not present.
The revelation and effectiveness of the story and journey is how Billy Crudup, playing Will Bloom the son, essentially finds out about his father. He finds that he has wasted droves of time doubting him while in turn the tall tales Ed has been telling, the stories Edward Bloom has been conveying to us and everyone are in fact mirrors of truth. Reflections of pure, unaltered, stranger than fiction fate. In turn a cycle and circle of life and how reconciliation and finding out something before it's too late is key to peace of mind and seeing the one you love for who they are. Believing their words, having a little faith in imagination and dreamy stories.

With a story which is bigger than life, with a character that is Edward Bloom whom is loved by the people and makes alot of friends along the way, with imagination, dreams and love binding the whole affair together Big Fish is a triumph again and again. Hell, the more times you watch it the more heavenly and meaningful the love letter story becomes to you. It sucks you in, reels you in like the title informs, it never lets go of your heart strings and tugs at them relentlessly, sticking in memory long after the adventure as come to it's final conclusion.
The bond that is love comes in many shapes and forms. Love for your friends, love for your family and love for your soulmate. I believe in it's own little way Big Fish flicks on the light switch in our hearts and minds to make us perhaps aware of this love that is rare and fleeting in our lives.

''You become what you always were - a very big fish.''

Big Fish was really knocked around at the start before it was released because it is a film from Tim Burton which is really bright and heartwarming which isnt really like him. Also because there wasnt any actors involved in this film who have been in a film with Tim Burton before apart from Helena Bonham Carter and Danny DeVito. I thought that at first but when I saw this film, I was totally blown away by how beautiful this film really is. I think the odds of the success of this film at first were against Tim because of how different this film is. But some people state that this film is his best film. People would choose either Big Fish, Sweeney Todd, Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, Beetlejuice or Ed Wood. This film made me feel really good because of its beautiful story and its inspiring characters within it. It also had a very cute meaning because it tought me what life really is about which is what a lot of films have tought me. It is a heartwarming fairy tale that is complex for a family film and is very creative and magical. This is inside Tim Burton's imagination just like Edward Scissorhands. I am unsure whether than fantasy place where Bloom went where he met that giant Karl and met a few other characters was in his imagination or really happening. That is why I have to say that this is Tim Burton's most complex film so far.


Ewan McGregors performance as young Ed Bloom was really good. His acting was like Ed was confused with the fantasy world and the illusion he was involved in with himself. Albert Finney's performance was awesome! It was the best from the whole film. He really do anything wrong at all with his acting. He did look like a really adorable heartwarming actor to portray a character like that. He looks like Ewan McGregor aswell so that's another reason why. Albert was snubbed of an Oscar nomination. Personally, I think that when there are scenes with Ewan as Bloom and Albert as Bloom, they are obviously the same character but I do find for some reason them both to be portraying different sorts of characters. Billy Crudup was really good too as Will Bloom because he makes him act like more of a curious yet passionate character than I was expecting he was going to be. Jessica Lange was really good aswell as elder Sandra Bloom. Helena Bonham Carters second collaboration with partner Tim Burton was a far better one than their previous film together which was Planet Of The Apes. I find Jenny's character a very mysterious character because she has always had a little crush on Ed Bloom ever since she was a little girl. Also, because of why she is so lonely, why she always has her cats with her and also why she lived in a random house in the woods. That is why I think Helena was really good for her character. I found the witch character quite a confusing character to calculate because I didnt really understand what was with her eye. I did think that maybe it could tell the future. The costume on Helena was really good which made her look similar to Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. But make-up on her for the witch was obviously very good but didnt look anything like Mrs. Lovett. Steve Buscemi was really good in this film as Norther Winslow. He makes me laugh all time which is why I think Steve Buscemi deserves to be a character like Norther Winslow because he was a humourous character to witness. Danny DeVito made me laugh aswell as he always does aswell as circus ringmaster Amos Calloway. I liked Alison Lohman as young Sandra Bloom and also Oscar winner Marion Cotillard as Will Blooms pregnant wife Josephine.


Tim Burtons direction in Big Fish is in a lot of ways typical from Tim but in a different way it is a new way of direction from Tim Burton. Tim Burton's Big Fish is like Robert Zemeckis' Forrest Gump and David Fincher's The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. Tim Burton has made this film his second most heartwarming film after Edward Scissorhands. Also, he made Big Fish his brighest (brightly coloured) film yet. As I said, I think the odds were against Tim with the success of this film because of how bright this film really is. There is a lot of bright colours involved especially when Bloom enters that land where there is bright lights, beautiful houses and really nice people. In a slight way at the same time, I find that like typical Tim Burton because it is like a setting and a film that a guy is in an extremely bizzare sort of illusion with himself and his life. It was like overrated because obviously its Tim Burton but can be underrated too because it is a Tim Burton film that not many people really appreciate because of its bright characters. The script was awesome aswell. This film is a novel but if it was without the fantasy world, the giant and the business with Bloom and the large fish then this would have been an excellent life story. It is a script that tries to revolutionise the meaning of life. But it does try and beat other previous classic films that try and show us what life really is about. Still a class script though.


This is my favourite Albert Finney film so far. Ewan McGregor was awesome in this film but I prefer his acting in Moulin Rouge!, Trainspotting the Star Wars prequel trilogy and The Island. I loved Helena Bonham Carter in this film too as Jenny but I prefer her in Sweeney Todd obviously. Danny DeVito and Steve Buscemi made me laugh in this film too and their performances were really good aswell. I did love this film from Tim Burton obviously but I prefer Burton films Sweeney Todd, Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow. Big Fish is a masterpiece and a masterpiece that should have been nominated for Best Picture. That is where I find this film like Sweeney Todd because they are both films that have been snubbed from the Best Picture Oscar nominations. They are the only two Tim Burton films that have ever been close. I dont think Tim Burton will ever make another brightly charactered film like this ever again. If he does then it cant be better than Big Fish because it is a masterpiece and is one of the best films of 2003. Big Fish is pure magic that I absolutely love!