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Big Fish review
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Beautiful, funny, inspiring yet tragic fairy tale!

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!

10/10
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Added by SJMJ91
15 years ago on 10 March 2010 14:49