Big Fish Reviews

• Big Fish is a "move-me" not just a "movie"!!

  
  By A6MUBL3S3T324 on 2004-02-22
  Big Fish is the best movie I have ever seen and I have sent many, many people to see it and none have been disappointed. The easiest way to describe the movie would be "Terms of Endearment" for Sons and Fathers. The son knows that his father is dying, but is unable to let go without at least trying to distinguish between his Father's "Fish" stories and his father's real life. The viewer never knows until the very end of the movie where the truth lies in this senerio. I assume many viewers will find themselves in this "non-chick" flick and so you may need some tissue, I did. Also this is a Tim Burton masterpiece in production, visual effects, plot, music, and character interplay.
  The sexiest scene I have ever viewed in a film takes place in Big Fish and yet there is no nudity in the scene. Jessica Lang provides the viewer with her usual superb performance and the young version of her character looks so much like her the viewer forgets they are two different actors and both their performances are outstanding. McGregor, although has lots of scenes in the movie, plays his part of the confused and somewhat angry son flawlessly. The father and his younger version keep the viewer so entertained that you never want this film to end. I would recommend this film to everyone over the age of 12. It is not a good choice for real young children because Tim Burton has done such an outstanding job of producing this film and most of the scenes are bigger than life and would easily scare younger audiances, although this is not a scary movie. It is brilliant and I do not understand why Hollywood has not given this picture more oscar attention and it is rare that I ever want to view a film more than once I intend to buy this DVD and watch it 100 more times.
  
  

• "I'm drying out...."

  
  By A2GPEV42IO41CI on 2004-01-29
  Director Tim Burton's off-beat blend of fantasy and reality, comedy and drama, boasts an all-star cast and an unsatisfying script.
  
  Will (Billy Crudup) has been called to his Alabama home to be with his dying father, Ed (Albert Finney). Father and son never got along, due to Dad's incessant tall tales of his fantastic exploits as a youth - befriending a giant, working in a circus, being a war hero, robbing a bank, and catching the world's biggest river fish, etc. As the bedside vigil continues, Will relives some of these stories to try to understand his father.
  
  I realize I am going against the majority feeling here, but I didn't like Big Fish. None of the characters were likeable or sympathetic and I didn't care about them; indeed, Albert Finney's character is thoroughly unpleasant, and the whole movie revolves around him. The funny parts weren't quite funny enough, the fantasy parts weren't exciting enough, the episodic vignettes were never resolved, and it was much too long. Given all this, the ending was surprisingly touching and there wasn't a dry eye in the theatre, but this was too little, too late, to redeem the film for me.
  
  

• Only thing new is the book.

  
  By A279PR14V1S4G8 on 2005-09-25
  One of Tim Burton's absolute best. To answer the previous question, it's the same DVD as the initial release. It comes in big box (that's the cover shown) and this one includes the 24 page hardcover book "Fairy Tale for a Grown Up."
  
  

• Brilliantly told story.

  
  By A2MEFO2UAKCNMN on 2004-05-10
  I went into Big Fish with high hopes. I love Tim Burton movies. He has an amazing imagination, which is lacking in many directors today. Directors like Roland Emmerich, Renny Harlin, and of course the big one, Michael Bay. These directors only use special effects and big explosions, while the story gets lost. Meanwhile Burton's genius is that his beautiful visuals compliment his stories. So as the curtains rose, and the theater went dark I was overcome by a childish glee. Then to my disdain, the lights came back on, then went on, and off about 15 more times before the movie finally started. But what a movie it ended up being.

  Big Fish tells the story of a young man trying to sort out the facts and lies that his father has been telling him for his whole life. As the story opens Will Bloom (Crudup) hasn't spoken to his father in almost three years. He got tired of listening to his tall tales, but when he gets a call from his mother (Lange) telling him that his father doesn't have much time he rushes down as a latch ditch effort to learn the facts about his father. Albert Finney plays Edward Bloom, a man nearly confined to his bed, trying to get his son to accept who he is. The majority of the film is told through flashbacks, showing the amazing life that young Edward Bloom (Mcgregor) has lived. From giants to circus, from war to salesman, the film gives you the glimpse of a life as Bloom sees it. Is it true? Is he lying? Or is he embellishing the facts? Who knows and who cares.

  The actors in this movie shine. Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney are absolutely charming in this movie. You want to believe his stories, and you can see why others do. The convincing shed their accents and pick up a southern accent without you really noticing. Other notable performances include Jessica Lange and Helena Bohnam Carter. But another surprise would have had to be Lohman. This was the first movie I had seen her in, and I was amazed. She is extremely talented and even with the limited screen time she was given manage to catch my attention.

  Now on to the inevitable visuals. Everyone knows of Tim Burtons visuals. Heck he has made it a trade mark., now known as Burtonism. This movie surprised me in the aspect that although very visual, it was the least of all his movies. What stood out to me? Well the town of Spectre along with the path to get there. It was a beautiful town, which represented Heaven on earth. Another notable section was the circus, where time froze while Ed Bloom saw the women of his life. The screenplay by John August captures the beauty of Daniel Wallace's book while expanding on it. The screenplay looked tailor made to be directed by Tim Burton. Which brings us to the score which was beautifully written by Danny Elfman. I have gotten so used to his dark and moody scores that I forgot how brilliant and light some of his scores can be. This is one of the best, compliments the movie perfectly.

  So when the lights came back on after the movie was over I was smiling. My imagination was just blown away again by Tim Burton. I was talking about the movie with a few friends after we got out of the theater and they noticed the same reaction from the audience as with me. I remembered being afraid when I sat down originally because it was the late showing and the audience consisted of teens. I was expecting a lot of dumb comments but they were as blown away as I was. Even now a few months later as I watch it on dvd I still can't stop smiling at how much I like this movie. This is a movie for everyone.
  
  

• TIM BURTON HAS DONE IT AGAIN

  
  By A2Z0A3DOG0EVTY on 2003-12-09
  There is something exhilarating about riding two trains and running 27 blocks down the street to see a movie. Living 8 or so miles outside New York City has its perks for one of my new jobs. Going to press screenings of yet to released blockbusters. It's just to bad I'm at the mercy of the New Jersey Transit rail system. With delayed trains and lots of snow covering the ground of course I had 10 minutes to get from Madison Square Garden to Union Square. No small feat if you ask me.

  But as I settled down in my chair at the Regal Union Square, and as I sipped on the sweet nectar of the drink called COKE, a film unfolded. A film so good, it made my mad dash to the theater worth every minute and as I reminisce about the filmed triumph that is BIG FISH, I feel a sense of awe and wonder. Tim Burton has created a film better than EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and a film that is worthy of Oscar.

  William Bloom (Billy Crudup, Waking The Dead) is mad at his father Edward Bloom (Albert Finney,Erin Brockovich). You see his dad loves to tell stories about his youth. Except none of them seem true. Stories of Giants named Karl (Matthew McGrory, Bubble Boy), Circus Freaks, wandering poets, Siamese Twins from Red China, bank robberies, a witch, and a really big fish. William longs to meet the real man behind all the stories. But when Edward is stricken with cancer, William comes face to face with the man, both the real one and the legend.

  BIG FISH is the kind of movie where a new surprise is hiding around every corner. From babies being spit across the hospital floor to a classic car being submerged underwater. The frame is jammed with visions both colorful and humorous. I especially liked the witch whose one eye could tell you how you would die. What an eerie and yet oddly beautiful old woman she was.

  I also loved the tender moment that Edward and his wife Sandy (Jessica Lange, Titus) had in the bathtub. It's a scene full of both raw emotion and sweet reflection. Here's a woman who's watching the man she loves die right in front of her face. Every moment counts, and every word and breath sacred.

  Ewan MacGregor (Star Wars: Attack of the Cloans) does a fine job as young Edward the adventurous youth of all his older counterpoint fantastical stories. His performance strikes the right cords at the right moments, allowing the audience to take hold of a man who may be the fabrication or the true version of a man who's telling the story.

  Tim Burton's directing is top notch. He's proven that he's a master of the visual image, and BIG FISH is the perfect film to allow people to sit up and take notice. He strikes the right cord between humor and tears, joyous circus's and scary forests. His deft eye even takes us behind enemy lines. In a scene that is both inspired and quirky all at the same time.

  BIG FISH is also a film about heritage. What's more important in the scheme of things, how we lived or how people remember us? It's a little of both, and this film puts us right in the middle of it all. Watching a life unfold around us.

  BIG FISH is the reason I love going to the movies. Sure sometimes you have to dig through the trash to find a gem and this is a gem of a motion picture. If you see one film at all this year BIG FISH is worth a trip, even a whirlwind 27-block sprint to your local theater.
  
  

• Masterpiece Filmmaking...
  By A37HCSGGRH8UO6 on 2004-01-18
  I saw the trailer for this film a few months back, and although I didn't know much about it, I was genuinely impressed. As Big Fish finally came out in theaters, I knew that I'd have to see it. I am so happy that I did.
  This beautiful film tells the story of a dying man (Albert Finney) whose son (Billy Crudup) feels as if everything the old man had told him about his life was phoney. As his son tries to piece together all the stories that he was told when he was younger, he begins to figure out that is maybe not all a myth.
  When the stories are told, Ewan McGregor plays a younger version of this man, during the 1950s and 1960s. In his fantasy-like adventures, he tells how he encountered a gentle giant, saved the town that he lived in, and met his true love (Alison Lohman) through months of work in a circus to get the ringmaster (Danny DeVito) to tell him more about the girl that he'd seen but did not know. The whole thing ties together in a beautiful way, and this movie you will be sure to love! It is a modern day Wizard of Oz! My Rating-9.2/10!
  
  
• Absolutely spectacular
  By A2NIGI5371S5U6 on 2004-01-11
  It is very seldom that trailer of the film tells the truth about it. I guess we can all accept the fact that they are designed to make people to want to go and see it. This was one of those occasions when trailer did not even do justice to the actual film. Big fish IS a modern day Wizard of OZ and more, IT IS A MASTERPIECE. This heartwarming and funny film brought to life by Tim Burtons inimitable imagination unravels a fabled relationship between a father and his son.

  SYNOPSIS: Edward Bloom (Oscar worthy performance by Albert Finney) has always been teller of tales about his unbelievable life as a young man (Ewan McGregor) when his lust for adventure led him from small town in Alabama, around the world and back again. Tales that range from the delightful to the delirious give life to giants, blizzards, a witch and so much more. With his larger-then-life stories, Bloom charms everyone except for his estranged son Will (wonderfully played by Billy Crudup) who believes that these stories have kept him from knowing his real father. When his mother Sandra (ever so talented and beautiful Jessica Lange) tries to reunite them, Will must come to terms with his father and learn how to separate facts from fiction.

  Beautifully executed film. It is visually stunning loaded with brilliant performances, amazing story told in an equally amazing way. And I guess one lesson I will always carry with is this: when telling a story you've got two choices - tell the facts of events or REALLY TELL A STORY.

  Go watch it. Anyone with an imagination will love it. I can not wait till this comes out on DVD.
  
  

• Big Fish brings Big Results
  By A1QFH9H4VN0QJ5 on 2004-01-23
  Tim Burton's most anticipated movie has finally arrived. Fans from all over have flocked to go see this movie when it was only released in limited theaters. But now, it's open nation wide and everyone can have a chance to see this movie. But is it worth the wait...and the cost of your money?

  Albert Finney plays Ed Bloom; a man who has spent most of his whole life telling stories to everyone he meets. Everyone seems to get a big kick out of the stories except for his son, Will Bloom (Billy Crudup). Ed becomes very sick and this illness causes Will to come back to his father. Will then struggles with his father to seperate fact from fiction and find out who his father really is. The movie is told mostly through Ed's stories and Ewan McGregor plays the young Ed Bloom. Jessica Lange stars as Ed's wife, Sandra Bloom, while Alison Lohman plays the young Sandra Bloom throughout the stories.

  After seeing this movie, I was just in awe at how incredible this film was. The movie is very emotional and definitely not for everyone. Big Fish starts out kinda confusing and almost a mess. The movie starts right away in the stories and your swept into them with no plot and wonder, "What's going on?" The one reason why the movie still has audiences watching and not leaving, despite the flaws, is because of the visuals. It's a good thing Tim Burton directed because to be honest, I don't think any other director could pour enough imagination and heart into this movie like Tim Burton did. Through the visuals, one can see that Mr. Burton cares deeply for this movie and it's characters. The visuals can go from being creepy (very much Burton style), to being simply beautiful. The movie has excelled in it's breath taking appearance.

  The acting is so-so except for two that stand out among the others. Mr Finney is extraordinary as the father who is relentless in telling his stories. This is a difficult character to play because this is a man who likes to be the center of attention but yet he has to be a character that you still care for even though he is selfish in his ways. Mr. Finney hits the character right on, and you find yourself loving Ed Bloom and always wanting him to be on the screen, much like the other characters wanted him in the film because of his stories. The other standout is Mr. Crudup. His performance of the son who can't stand his father or his stories is so human that you feel like you know this guy. Mr. Crudup is very careful in his acting in making sure he doesn't overact during the emotional scenes but yet, stay human and provide us with warm comfort as we can understand and relate to why he would feel sick of his father and his stories.

  Big Fish consist mostly of Ed's stories and at the final ending is where everything comes together. Throughout the entire movie there's not much of a plot, but it keeps you there because of the visuals, and then at the end is where everything comes together. The ending is so pleasing and glamourous that it makes the entire movie worthwhile. The ending is what truely turns this film from a good movie into a great movie. It's so charitable and memorable of the importance of a father/son relationship that it had me crying. Everything was tied together and I found myself cheering and clapping at how incredible this film was.

  Big Fish is definielty worth the money. This is a film about a father and a son and the relationship between the two. Though the movie begins like a man stumbling through the fog, it ends like a man standing in a field of beautifully grown yellow flowers, simply marvolous. Big Fish has produced an emotionally big result.
  
  

• THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY...
  By A1L43KWWR05PCS on 2006-06-08
  This is, indeed, a magical, mystical movie about fathers and sons, which is based upon the book "Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions" by Daniel Wallace. The book is a perfect vehicle for Director Tim Burton's signature melange of reality and fantasy. The story is that of a father and his son, their estrangement, and their eventual reconciliation. It is a beautifully realized film that will bring tears to one's eyes.
  
  The father in question is Ed Bloom (Albert Finney) who loves to tell, at least it seems so to his son, Will (Billy Crudup), tall tales about his past. The son becomes estranged from his father on his wedding day, when his father tells one tall tale too many for Will's tastes. For the next several years, Will communicates only with his mother, Sandra (Jessica Lange).
  
  When his father becomes seriously ill, however, Will and his wife rush to his side. Father and son take final stock of each other, and the seemingly tall tales continue. As his father gets progressively worse, Will, feeling that he really does not know his father, embarks on a journey to discover for himself, once and for all, the man his father really is. What he discovers is that his father was not so off the mark with his stories, and he finally begins to appreciate who his father really is and the impact that he has had on others. It allows Will to be able to say goodbye to his father in a way that his father understands and to be at peace with the man whom he discovered his father to be .
  
  The film takes the viewer on a ride through some of Ed Bloom's tall tales, in a series of vignettes, where the viewer sees a young Ed Bloom (Ewan McGregor) living an almost fantastical life. We see him meet the love of his life, Sandra, as a young girl (Alison Lohman). We see him as a circus worker, a soldier, a traveling salesman, and even a bank robber. We see some of the people that cross section his life: a giant, a diminutive ringmaster, a witch, singing Siamese twins, and a bank robber. Ed even comes across a perfectly heavenly town full of wonderful, happy people.
  
  This is simply a marvelous film with fantastical elements reminiscent of "Forrest Gump" and "The Princess Bride". Wonderful performances are given by veteran actors Albert Finney and Jessica Lange. Look for the very touching bath tub scene, where, fully clothed, the love between Ed and Sandra is palpable. Albert Finney, in the role of the senior Ed Bloom, is exceptional as a raconteur of the first order. Ewan McGregor is remarkable as the charismatic, younger Ed Bloom, infusing the role with a joie de vivre that is as infectious as it is engaging.
  
  Jessica Lange is terrific as the senior Sandra Bloom, grounding her relationship with her husband with a steadfastedness born of years of mutual love and respect. Alison Lohman is simply lovely as the younger Sandra, imbuing her character with a beautiful sense of innocence and longing. It is interesting that both Alison Lohman and Ewan McGregor strongly resemble their more senior co-stars.
  
  Billy Crudup is excellent as the angry Will Bloom, the son who needs to reconcile his image of his father with the man his father actually is. Robert Guillaume is masterful in the small role of the senior Dr. Bennett. The rest of the stellar cast is superlative, though Danny DeVito's southern accent needed a bit more work. The direction, however, is deft, and the cinematography is brilliant. This is an absolutely exceptional film. I really enjoyed it immensely, even though I initially viewed this film most reluctantly, and only after much persuasion by my son. I am certainly glad that I did. This film has made me a fan of Tim Burton. It is filmmaking at its best. Bravo!
  
  
• A wonderful tall tale of whimsy between father and son.
  By AO5F3MTTFCQR8 on 2004-02-15
  Don't you know someone in your life that tells the tallest tales of life? You want to believe them because you love them but then all you know of them are stories almost lies at times. `Big Fish' reminds you that sometimes you just have to see with the eyes of a child and to accept that their life is their tall tales.

  Edward Bloom [Albert Finney] has a son and tells the most unique tale of how his son was born while he was capturing a 'Big Fish' problem is he's been telling this story for all the 30 something years his son has been alive and Will Bloom [Billy Crudup] is not enchanted with his fathers tall tales of life and love.

  This film takes you on two journeys; the whimsical journey of a young Edward Bloom played by Ewan McGregor from his home town of Auburn on to the road of an ideal southern town, a moving circus, to the heart of the love of his life Sandra Templeton played by both Amy Lohman and Jessica Lang, on a secret military mission, and then the parallel journey of his later life with his son.

  This film had the feel of a Superhero film sprinkled with real life and fables. There is a lot of fun in this movie and a great story of acceptance between father and son. The casting of this film blew me away. Lots of big names and a great cast for Edward Bloom [Finney and McGregor] and Sandra Templeton [Lohman and Lang] not to mention all the supporting characters.

  Although I really enjoyed this film, I think it would have been better with a fresh director.
  
  

• Burton Misses the Boat on this one
  By AQ0EO10KTRJ4V on 2004-05-01
  I realize this was based on a fantasy novel and was not a 100% pure Tim Burton creation, however BIG FISH misses the boat.

  Lavish production and great cinema techniques can't save this film from being just a random mish-mash of fantasy dream elements strung together in the semblance of a story.

  There is no empathy for characters and the story just gets old real quick.
  After about an hour you just want to turn it off and go do something else as the movie does not "suck you in".

  I get the impression the original creator for BIG FISH has spent their life with a notebook by their bed and whenever they wake up in the middle of the night from a dream, quickly mkes notes about the dream before they forgot them.
  Then years later took that notebook of random dream elements and tried to weave a story around them.

  My wife and I waited for this movie with anticipation but were deeply dissapointed.

  One always hates writing a bad movie review because it is clear how much work and effort went into making it..... but like they say "There are no E's for effort in the real world... the only thing that matters is the final result".

  Despite the hard work and effort that went into making this movie (which I can respect)... it is simply forgetable and not entertaining.
  
  

• Not Up to the Hype
  By A15XY6GGKD3B6D on 2004-07-14
  After all the wonderful ads, I was really looking forward to this movie. I was disappointed to realize the ads showed the very best parts. Overall, I thought it was lacking in plot, and it centered around the father character, who was not in the least bit likable. The special effects were good, if a little dark and creepy like everything of Tim Burton's, but special effects cannot carry a bad story.
  
  
• Is the fish real? Or does it even matter?
  By A2TZKXU6Q0EDNP on 2004-04-13
  I found it exceedingly hard to give this film a rating, even those 4 stars i decided for i'm not absolutely certain about, it could easily have been a 3-star decision or a a 5-star even.

  The reason for this is that "Big Fish" is a tricky proposition to make up your mind about. The fact that many reviewers either absolutely love it or found it tedious is attesting to that notion.

  While "Big Fish" is on the surface a film about a father in his dying days narrating the incredible and zany stories of his life and a son who tries to find out if these stories have any truth in them and simoultaneously learn who his father really was before he dies, there's quite many underlying and very significant questions and issues that this film deals with.

  To begin with, we as viewers never really find out with any certainty if these stories are indeed true, but instead we are "trained" through the course of the movie to think with father Gloom's mindset, that is:
  "it doesn't really matter if they are true, it only matters that they make a good story".

  And then just when you think that's all there is, you realise that this film is like an onion really as another layer reveals itself to you:
  "but isn't reality a matter of total subjectivity, and that what one person perceives as real the next person might think of as complete nonsense"?

  And yet who's to say what the answers "really" are? Big Fish walks , in my opinion, a very tight rope, and having to maintain a very precarious balance it does incredibly well.

  After the disaster of the "Planet of the Apes", Burton comes up in a domain where he does best: one between dream and reality where the borders are not only blurry but there might not be borders alltogether. It's all very "fortean" in concept, but Burton has proven in other films in his past that he can deal with this domain quite succesfully.

  Aside of the premise of the film (which again, will be perceived by a lot of viewers differently) this is a cinematic masterpiece as Burton brings to life the old school of grand-moviemaking to life.

  Alone the stunning depictions of the stories of father Gloom are cinema at its dreamy bestand this complimented by a cast headed by McGregor who ultimately finds a vehicle for the performance of his life make up for a not easy to forget film.

  The rest of the cast is up to par as well. Father Gloom played by Finney is a wonderful zesty character, as well as his wife played by a graciously aging J.Lange. De Vito and Buscemi, even in second leads, remind us easily why they belong to that league of premier actors.

  Sure enough, were this film to be taken literally, there are quite some plot holes, to name one example, why would a woman be so terribly in love with someone who was basically never there?

  But, this is exactly the trick here. Big Fish should not be judged on that merit. Burton himself has inserted not one, but many hints inside the dialogues of the film in that direction.

  Do see it. I'm not claiming it will change your life, but it will provide a lot of food for thought if you find a way to allow it to.
  
  

• Just Plain Awful
  By A18SURQ7LRUIHO on 2004-07-18
  After seeing the movie, I was without words to describe my disappointment with the movie. Seeing the comments and reviews on Amazon, I am without words as to how people could be giving such an awful movie 5, 4 or even 3 stars. It is phony from start to finish, with a terrible plastic feeling throughout. It has the most stupid script ever, jokes that are simply not funny, and the bottom line is the I just could not believe someone actually released this movie to the theaters. I simply cannot put into words how deep my disappointment is.
  
  
• Big Dud
  By A3OEFFAIHOFC5M on 2004-06-30
  And you thought Mars Attacks was bad? You ain't seen nothin' yet.

  What a huge disappointment. It never, excuse the pun, reels you in. The best parts of the movie are the ones without Burton's playful imagery. Tim Burton's films are really starting to annoy me. They are so childish and lack any sort of real substance. They rely solely on the visual aspect, and that gets tiring after awhile. It's like if Tim Burton were a painter then his medium of choice would be crayon. Granted he can do some really good stuff in crayon, but step up and be a man for once. Put away your crayons, and try using some paint.
  
  

• Big Flop.
  By on 2004-07-11
  My wife and I were very excited to see this movie after seeing the preview. We were very disappointed. The storyline and the dialogue are terrible. The acting, the sets, the special effects, and the music were all very good. But in my book, NONE of those things can make up for a bad script, and they did not make up for Big Fish's very bad script.
  
  
• not for us
  By AFWDZD2ZWYEBF on 2004-09-24
  we viewed this last night after several recommendations and reviews. The visuals and technique are great, as is the acting, but the story and expostion just don't work for us. We were clueless as to what was going on for the first hour, then began to understand what was the theme in the 2nd hr. BTW, our DVD had very significant sound problems for about half the movie. The music was extremely loud, but the spoken parts were almost not understandable until you raised th evolume only to be blasted by the music. This cleared up in the 2nd half by itself.
  
  
• a few laughs a quick cry (part II)
  By ASQHAT8H9YNQ5 on 2003-12-16
  Near the beginning of Big Fish, Edward Bloom, the hero of the movie, is telling the story of how a giant visited Ashton, the town where he grew up. The giant, whose name is Karl, is not created by a computer; he actually has gigantism, and is clearly not a professional actor. His completely unaffected performance is one of the few charming things about this movie.

  Anyway, Edward and Karl go off to the city together and Edward of course takes Karl to the circus, where he's bound to be star. Here's the part that bothered me, the part that I think gets at what's wrong with this movie. Danny DeVito, the ringmaster in the circus, plops down a contract in front of the giant and says, "Do you know what `involuntary servitude' means?" The giant says, "No," and DeVito smiles and says "Good!" This gets a laugh from the audience. Now, this character had already earned my affection, so I wondered what was going to happen to him in this exploitative circus: how's he going to end up?

  But they never tell us. They skip to the next tall tale. And this happens again and again: oddities are used essentially as props, and then taken out of the story until they're convenient again. The Siamese twins could just as easily be talking Rhesus monkeys, or four armed men juggling robin's eggs: the movie doesn't care, it just wants weird. Clearly the studio thought, Circus freaks, let's get Tim Burton - but his old creations like Edward Scissorhands had life and compassion behind them. Here's Burton working with someone else's book and screenplay, and I can tell he doesn't care about any of them. Even the human characters are there only to learn lessons or impart them, and a few scenes had emotional resonance only because the actors were so good: the scene in the tub with Edward and his wife doesn't feel real because the characters have earned our sympathy, but because Lange and Finney convey something authentically beautiful in the wider world - the deepening love of couples as they age.

  When I got up at the end of the movie, severely annoyed, I noticed that the girl next to me was crying. I didn't understand her reaction, since everything about this movie struck me as false. Maybe the tears were a surface emotion, or Big Fish reminded her of something authentic in her life. I imagine plenty of reviewers will gush about this movie, but just like everyone cried at the end of Titanic, and you now see shelves of the movie unrented in Blockbuster, this film's phoniness will catch up with it eventually. It isn't fair to ask every movie to become a lasting part of someone's emotional life, but when a movie pretends to cast a net of generosity around all of its characters and treats them with either callous indifference or vapid sentimentality, it makes me upset.

  Clearly, I didn't react to Big Fish in the way that some other people did - I suppose it's good for a few laughs and a quick cry - but these are disposable emotions brought out by a disposable movie, one that will dull your appreciation for the lovely moments in life instead of intensifying them.
  
  

• Big Fish?: Big Flop!
  By A240P4X3I4FXVL on 2004-01-11
  This is one of history's worst movies. It ranks right up there with Pootie Tang. If the cinema where I saw this movie burned, at least I would have the solace of knowing that a print of this terrible movie was destroyed.

  I am a huge fan of movies with fantasy components(Brazil, Moulin Rouge, etc.)and therefore found it puzzling that I disliked this movie so virulently. The movie flip flops between the present and a story of the dying father to the fantastic stories that the father tells. The problem is the juxtaposition of fantasy and reality. The doses of reality prevent us from properly entering the world of fantasy; and the sometimes bizzare story scenes make us unable to find any true emotion for the dying father.

  This movie fails on all counts.
  I strongly suggest that anyone considering seeing, buying, or even renting this movie reconsider.
  I'm only giving this move a star because I have to.
  
  

• Reconciliation
  By A2B7BUH8834Y6M on 2004-01-20
  Most children start out their lives idealizing their parents in one way or another, and the pedestals are slowly hacked away, but sometimes a new one is erected. Growing up, Will (Billy Crudup) idealized his father, believing all of his incredible, tall tales of adventure - even including his own dramatic birth.

  Now in his thirties, married and with a baby of his own on the way, Will must now tie up loose ends with his father who is dying of cancer. Edward Bloom (as a young man, Ewan McGregor, present day portrayal by Albert Finney) seems to touch success everywhere he goes, not having much himself, but enriching the lives of those around him. His sweet smile and positive outlook make him not only an effective salesman of useless household objects, but a salesman of himself and his "big fish" stories.

  Disgusted wih his father's apparent allergic reaction to telling a simple fact instead of a tall tale, Will has let 3 years pass without a word between them, but now must face the reality that time is now his worst enemy. Will finally confronts his father, telling him, "I don't know who you are." Will leaves in a huff, and going through his father's papers, begins to investigate the truth of his father's past.

  As Will begins to unravel the tapestry his father has woven, he finds that "not everything (he) has said is a complete fabrication" as his mother (Jessica Lange) tells him... and some of the most unbelievable of his stories turn out to be very true, albeit sometimes a little exaggerated. Will finds himself turning back into that young, believing child - rebuilding even a bigger pedestal to place his father upon - the opposite of what he expected.

  It's easy to understand Will's resentment - his own mother, while not telling her own tall tales, never seems to be a voice of reason - expecting a young child to grow up not knowing what is real - her sole focus in life seems to be on her husband, and very little focus is on raising the little human they've created together.

  Those who have recently lost a loved one may find a poignant scene between the father and son a little too close to home, a truly bittersweet moment of heart-wrenching reconciliation.

  Lots of light hearted moments and tongue-in-cheek scenes break what little tension the viewer experiences. Some language a partial nudity make this unsuitable for young viewers, but compared to broadcast television, it is quite tame.
  
  

• Big Fish - Forrest Gump... What's the Difference?
  By A1CZP2WTTYBFX9 on 2004-05-05
  I was completely let down by this movie. The only thing good about it was the trailer advertizing it, and that was wickedly deceptive.

  I am a huge fan of fantasy and fairy tales, which drew me to this film. Sadly, I was disappointed. Big Fish was like a pathetic parody of Forest Gump (which I also hated). I grew up in Alabama, so cheap imitations of Alabama accents insult me personally. The fantasy failed on every level. I was so thoroughly unimpressed that the money spent on renting it is quite possibly the worst spent money in my life.

  Back to Forest Gump analogy. The vignette-type movie is nearly impossible to pull off. Both movies lived up to that idea. They didn't pull it off. The whole coming-to-grips-with-my-horrible-past-by-looking-back-on-it mentality makes for a depressing movie. The problem is that in both of these movies, this depressing setting is juxtaposed with a comedic mentality which accomplishes nothing. The greatest common element in the two movies: they were both about two hours too long.
  
  

• Lovely tear-jerker--with a mild bit of wisdom, too.
  By A3NM0RAYSL6PA8 on 2004-05-06
  There's a dreamlike quality to Big Fish, a kind of luminous, otherworldly tone that befits a story that skips from the incredible to the mundane like a flickering candle. In the end, it is a surreal, touching story--a darn good tear puller--that left me feeling a bit happier, and even a bit wiser. Nicely done.

  I must admit that I'd held off seeing this movie because I'd lost hope for Tim Burton. His downright awful remake of one of my favorite films, Planet of the Apes, had turned me cynical and suspicious. Was he, as it appeared, just a poseur--with dirty mop of unkempt hair and fat-framed glasses fancied by eighty-year-olds? Had his successes been a scam perpetrated by a guy who'd fooled a lot of dim-brained Hollywood numbskulls? Big Fish, if it truly is Burton's child (after the Apes fiasco, I must admit that I've not entirely disabused myself of the idea that Burton just put his name on this--but I digress), redeems him. It isn't soaringly great, but it is truly well-done and enjoyable.

  There are a few minor problems which I should point out. Billy Crudup, who plays a son in search of his real father, is a very weak actor, and whether it's him or the role he plays, or both, he comes across as just plain unlikeable. It's really too bad, since his role could have provided for an added bit of depth and resonance to the film. Thankfully, his screen time is very limited--perhaps Burton, himself, judged that Crudup was too weak to merit a central place on the screen. But for all of Crudup's weakness, Albert Finney and Ewan McGregor give outstanding performances. McGregor, who plays Crudup's father character as young man, shines with likeability and energy, the kind of person you meet rarely in life and who pulls you in with his joy and indefagitable innocence. Finney is splended as a sputtering, kind-hearted yarn-spinner. Jessica Lange is fine in her small role, and the young actress who plays her character as a young woman (Alison Lohman) is almost too beautiful to be believed--which adds, of course, to the ghostly, dreamlike quality of the film.

  I really liked this film, clumsy fish metaphor aside! It's gentle and provocative entertainment that is well worth seeing with the whole family.
  
  

• BIG YAWN.
  By AN5QGER04GFSF on 2004-06-10
  I am a huge Tim Burton fan but this is a real disappointment (especially after the debacle that was Planet Of The Apes). Quirky visuals cannot disguise the fact that at the heart of this story is a very annoying central character. If you want to watch Ewen McGregor grin his way through a movie, then this is the film for you, otherwise watch Ed Wood again to see a real classic.
  
  
• A HEART-WARMING TREAT OF MAGICAL SPLENDOUR
  By A1L8HRCM60W0W7 on 2004-06-25
  A delightful diversion from regular films! The screen frequently pops with whimsical exaggerations and candy-tinted flourishes in this imaginative adaptation of Wallace's novel.

  Plus, we have a liberal dollop of humourous banter, dealing with an evocative theme that most of us could relate to. Unlike the big narrative arc that is typical of most movies, we get a collection of woolly, offbeat short stories featuring the same pivotal character. Which is great.

  On the potential negative side, if you don't like fantasia, be warned: there are oodles of make-believe tricks and tropes, and by the time we drag to the supposedly reconciliatory finale, the deck is so stacked against reality that one needs a jug of cappucino to continue caring.

  Not to mention that there are at least three British artists in the lead attempting a Southern drawl (with mixed results) in their accents.

  Regardless, what's not to savour in a well-made movie with no problems that a better judgment in editing wouldn't have solved!

  Recommended rental.
  
  

• Big... Something or Other
  By A54515DD94J4U on 2006-01-16
  I really wanted to like Big Fish, but I was mostly bored while watching it. It was not a bad movie, and had some interesting moments, but mostly I found the characters to be one dimensional, and I was apathitic to all of them. There was no spark in Big Fish.
  Good special effects and good acting, but the story kind of held everything back.
  
  
• Sometimes Fiction is Better than the Truth
  By A34D4KCP94ACJZ on 2007-05-09
  Tim Burton's return to genuine film making is a welcome endeavor indeed. Here he creates a film that reminds me of what great film making is all about: fantasy, love and reflecting on the human spirit. I scoffed at a review that compared Big Fish to The Wizard of Oz when Big Fish first came out, but upon viewing it the comparison is really not hyperbolic at all and is actually quite justified. There is a unique carelessness and an innocence that resides perfectly and constantly in both films. To me, both films are truly a breath of fresh air and hope.
  
  Big Fish is a book written by Daniel Wallace and is the delightful story of Edward Bloom, who has reached the twilight of his life and surrounds himself with his son, daughter-in-law and his wonderful wife Sandra. Eddie has seemingly lived a fantastic life of lies and exaggerations and his son has grown to call his bluff on more than one occasion. In fact, his son returns not just to possibly say good-bye to his father, but to attempt to get him to spill the beans on the truth of who his old man really is. Eddie of course, stands by his stories and brushes off his son's accusations nonchalantly. Most of the film we see Eddie revisit his life as a whole, seen through only his own stories. How he once befriended a 12 foot man; how he arrived in a town that was paradise, once to early and once too late when he turned it back into paradise again; how he joined the circus for three years so he could find out pieces information once a month from Amos the ringmaster about the girl Eddie was sure would be his wife and how Sandra would believe Eddie to be dead in war but he would return. The stories are full of details that would clearly indicate they are false but sometimes they are just better that way. Eddie is a mythological figure and that is just fine with him and as a viewer it's fine with me as well.
  
  Eddie is played by Albert Finney who is in turn mirrored by Eddie's youthful version, the outstanding Ewen MacGregor who once again proves his versatility. Jessica Lange plays the older Sandra and she is played as a youngster by the talented Alison Lohman who carries as much energy and beauty as you could expect for a role with so little dialogue and so much importance. She is a real find and makes you fall in love with her right along with Eddie. Helena Bonham Carter brings her talents to the roles of The Witch and Jenny (or all of the other important women in Eddie's life). Steve Buscemi shows up, which is always a pleasant surprise and of course Amos is played by Danny DeVito who is as enjoyable as ever. The flat Keanu Reeves clone Billy Crudup is perhaps the only drawback, but he is a safe casting call as Eddie's son and does what he can in discovering that his father is exactly what he says he is and more.
  
  Let me just add that I believe Big Fish is a family film. I don't see why it shouldn't be rated PG rather than PG-13. The language rises above the prime time television level once, there is blood only in a comedic and romantic fight sequence that has a truly admirable message and there is a women's nude rear displayed briefly and non-sexually. This is not grounds for a PG-13 movie. I would bring a seven year old to see this. In fact, my guess is that the movie was directed at this demographic. When content is not exploitative, it is not really inappropriate. I can't see why Rock Diesel films get PG-13ed when the message is nothing short of "Kill the bad guys, make a lame joke, drive and crash really cool vehicles and get the dirty chick". Anyway, Big Fish may be about a guy who is stretching the truth but the characters' hearts couldn't be more firmly in the right place. The scene when Eddie fills an entire field with Sandra's favorite flower and stands in the middle of the field, outside of her window and calls out to her comes to mind. It brings joy to my heart in a way that only a film like The Wizard of Oz can, and a small child should never ever miss that kind of message. Big Fish is a smart film that really generates a ton of emotion and convincing special effects. I don't doubt for a moment that more work went into the effects than money. This film carried a sense of hope, pride, real love, respect, fantasy and the crucial element that films of these tainted times often forget: natural and unforced optimism.
  
  Then there is Tim Burton. He is the filmmaker that can put all of these elements together and for the first time tug at your emotions as well. Two things make this film better than Burton's other work. Firstly, it is real and doesn't dwell on being over-stylized and under-dramatized. Secondly, it is pure, clean and full of moments we can all relate too. Tim Burton has made a film that will alienate his older fans who haven't matured like he has, without "selling out" (he's done that before) and he has made a film that the whole world can watch, enjoy and discover this unique filmmaker. I'm glad that he saved some of his real film making inspiration for this wonderful little story.
  
  
• A perspective from a Tim Burton Fan
  By A2NF1RY31JF0HE on 2004-04-22
  I am going to operate under the assumption that everyone reading this review knows the basic plotline and if you don't just read the synopsis above.

  I love Tim Burton films that are made in his realm. Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, and Nightmare Before Christmas are great examples of that. He's an expert at bringing fables to life and taking strange, exotic, and deeply flawed characters to the screen and presenting them in a way that allows a mass audience accept them. In fact Tim Burton celebrates these characters, and that enthusiasm is fantastic.

  Then there are the Tim Burton movies that are not as personal to him and seem to miss the enthusiasm and zeal that make his great movies great. Planet of the Apes is a great recent example of that type of film.

  Big Fish is a mixture of both types of Burton films. When Big Fish goes into fantasy mode the movie shines and is immensly enjoyable and interesting. The characters in this world are wild and full of life. When the movie reverts back to reality, the movie deflates and almost seems bored and tired. To be honest, I believe it is a reflection of the filmmaker. Tim Burton's energy is solely devoted to the fantasy of the film.

  Big Fish is a story worth visiting and Tim Burton fans will definately enjoy the fantasy portion of the film. However in comparing Big Fish to other Burton films I think it swims somewhere in the middle.
  
  

• Three strikes you're out Tim!
  By A2RQVJ9TUZK4XV on 2004-05-04
  Tim Burton is on a roll (to early retirement). This is the third dismal movie he has directed in a row. Relying heavily on picture perfect "aren't we imaginative" sets that look television commercials quality and less on building some tension and plot Big Fish is as much fun as watching a fish out of water suffocate to death. The biggest offense in this movies is the talk-over narration. Could you imagine a movie like "The Wizard of Oz" if we had to listen to Dorothy blab on and on about what she had experienced instead of allowing us to discover the wonders along side her? If you have seen one of those tedious "In a town called perfect" tv ads with all the sugary nursery muzak you've already seen Big Fish. Avoid this movie if you have any discretion on how you spend your time.
  
  
• Angry Tim Burton Fan!!!!!
  By A3G6P53CLYYQV6 on 2004-05-05
  I'm a BIG fan of ALL Tim Burton's films.
  I was horrified when I saw this movie in the big screen. A horrible screenplay and a horrorifying idea.
  And when I saw that it was realeased in DVD I was schocked.
  How come!!! Tim Burton's worst movie "BIG fISH" released AND Tim's Masterpiece "Ed Wood" rejected by the distributors.
  How possible?
  I cannot understand why Burton decided to stop making good films, and started making CRAP!!
  If anyone agrees with me, please vote at amazon, for the Ed Wood's realease.And the ban of Big Fish!

  See you.
  
  

• A Real Flounder
  By A38G64S5VMRI1P on 2004-05-22
  After seeing Big Fish on DVD, my first reaction was to wonder why so many people love the film. It's a story about Will, a grown man who has grown apart from his father, Ed. Will is constantly embarrassed in public by his father who insists on telling the most outrageous and unbelievable stories to everyone he meets. Will believes none of them, yet Ed insists they are completely true, and as a result Will feels like he doesn't know his father whatsoever. Ed is then diagnosed with a terminal illness, and the movie unfolds as Will tries to find out the truth about his dad.

  While I heard there "wasn't a dry eye in the house" from everyone who saw it, the film just didn't move me. It's filled with somewhat clich?d and thinly veiled symbolism, and is permeated with inconsistent metaphors. It's sort of like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for idiots - people can leave feeling like they just actually enjoyed an "art" film that wasn't actually an art film. Here is how the film fails.

  Early in the movie Ed sees how he is going to die, and realizes from that moment on he can survive anything. Everything except the audience's interest for the rest of the film - because he knows (and you know) throughout the movie that he isn't going to die until a certain point, he handles every situation with a completely drama-less attitude, knowing he'll live through it. He parachutes into the middle of a Japanese army, walks straight through the webs of poisonous spiders, robs a bank, faces a man-eating giant, etc. - all because he knows he won't die doing it. Therefore every scene is pretty much void of drama since you know he'll survive, and since he behaves recklessly knowing he'll survive as well. To me, that's a pretty boring hero. A hero is only heroic when there's real danger involved and Ed never faces real danger because he always knows he'll live through it. I just couldn't get behind him.

  Besides this, he constantly abandoned his family - including the woman that he paylessly worked at a circus for three years to find because he "loved" her so much - to go on his little adventures. I don't really see how I can respect that in a character. He supposedly has the woman of his dreams, and then leaves her home alone so he can go fix up some other woman's house for her. Continuing with the characters, Will is a completely humorless jerk who treated his father badly. Furthermore, when will has his "transformation" at the end of the movie, there was really nothing to trigger it. Sure he had found some papers in his father's shed to validate some of the stories and he had talked to the woman from Specter, but there was nothing to suggest that he had totally been changed and bought into his father's philosophy. As a result, the ending felt like completely contrived schlock to me. It was just "time for character transformation in 3...2...1...now," with no lead up to it at all.

  There really isn't a conceivable story line to follow either. It just felt completely random and absurd. Perhaps that's what people liked about - for me, I prefer at least a semblance of story in a film. Burton just used gimmick after gimmick instead of telling a real story. We're hearing Jenny tell about Ed driving to Specter when he hit a severe thunderstorm, and then, while I foolishly expect a story to develop out of it, he's suddenly in his car at the bottom of a sea with a naked woman swimming around, then he's staring at his car up in a tree, presumably after the water has subsided. Just when it starts to shape into a story, something completely random and absurd happens, sending the movie spiraling deeper into contrived glitter-scenes, and apparently tricking the audience into believing they just saw something meaningful.

  Based upon the gushing reviews of this film, even on amazon, it's hard to advise you not to see it. But if you do, try not to give in to the careful manipulation of Burton's devices and actually try to follow the film and what it's saying. In the end, it really isn't much. Basically, it's saying if you abandon your loved ones to pursue your own fantasies, everyone will love you in the end. I'm just not buying that.
  
  

• The Fifth Element
• Black Hawk Down [Region 2]
• Hellboy (Two-Disc Special Edition)
• Edward Scissorhands (Widescreen Anniversary Edition)
• Pan's Labyrinth