STAR RATINGS EXPLAINED
Unmissable
Excellent
Good
Poor
Tragic

FILM DETAILS

Certificate PG

Cast Ewan McGregor Albert Finney Billy Crudup Jessica Lange Alison Lohman Alison Lohman.

Directors Tim Burton.

Screenwriters John August.

Running Time 125 minutes

LATEST DVD REVIEWS Au Hasard Balthazar Les Cousins Amateur Mouchette Unbelievable Truth, The 5 STAR REVIEWS Au Hasard Balthazar Wizard Of Oz, The Birds, The Silence Of The Lambs, The Lincoln

Big Fish
Thoughtful Tim Burton fantasy about a dying storyteller.

Tweet

Plot
After returning home to be at his dying father's bedside, Will Bloom is once again forced to listen to the tall tales of his larger-than-life dad that plagued his youth. Frustrated by the barriers these fanciful yarns put in their relationship, Will tries to uncover the facts behind the fiction.

Review
From scissorhanded misfits to headless horsemen via Z-grade filmmakers... if any undercurrent has coursed through Tim Burton's work, it is that real life is frankly not good enough and needs embellishing. It is something of a surprise, therefore, that it took the filmmaker until his 11th effort to make this conceit explicit.

In the novel Big Fish by Daniel Wallace, Burton has found a vehicle to express his fascination with the fantastical and its relationship to reality. Whimsical without being twee, freewheeling without being messy, moving without being schmaltzy, Big Fish aligns Burton's visual virtuosity and offbeat sensibility to a story that, for once, has more than one foot in the real world. It's a charming piece of witty, warm-hearted filmmaking. After the soulless Planet Of The Apes, Burton has scaled down the logistics but broadened the thematic and emotional scope, crafting a tale that feels grandiose yet homespun. Part-Baron Munchausen, part-Forrest Gump, the approach of visualising the exaggerated tales of a dying man relayed to his dubious adult son echoes the storytelling traditions of Americana, yet recasts it in Burton's unique tone of voice.

In Bloom's fantastical universe, Burton is on familiar territory - a sleepy '50s-looking town recalls Edward Scissorhands, a spider-filled forest hints at Sleepy Hollow - serving up vignettes that, if occasionally rambling and unfocused, are marked with boundless visual imagination that hints at the darker currents in wholesome Americana. Bloom's fanciful adventures with conjoined Korean cabaret singers, a werewolf and a misunderstood giant are suffused with an affection for the bizarre, tapping into an affinity with the outsider that is a touchstone in Burton's work. Moreover, Big Fish is also Burton's funniest film in ages. From Edward's birth, shooting between his mother's legs and down a hospital corridor, to his run in with the kung fu fighting Korean military, Burton delivers a steady stream of laugh-out-loud absurdity.

A bi-product of this is that the characters sometimes feel more like ciphers than rounded individuals. That said, McGregor gives young Edward a winning amiability and maximum sparkle, his extravagant courtship of wife-to-be Susan (Alison Lohman plays a young Jessica Lange with creepy accuracy) - involving skywriting planes and an impromptu field of daffodils - emerging as intoxicatingly sweet. Finney inhabits rather than reveals his bigger-than-life figure.

Surrounding the main players, Burton has assembled a starry-ish line-up that enriches the tapestry without ever feeling like stunt cameos. Danny DeVito is a conniving circus ringleader; Helena Bonham Carter takes a dual role, including a one-eyed witch who looks bizarrely like Faye Dunaway; and Steve Buscemi relishes a turn as a small-town poet-turned-bank robber-turned-Wall Street baron.

Ultimately, Big Fish is much more than a compendium of Timbo's greatest hits. For the first time since Ed Wood, Burton has transcended his hermetically-sealed world and connected with wider concerns. He has moving things to say about kids accepting their parents' foibles and how emotional truths sometimes supersede factual veracity. In anchoring the whimsy to something more heartfelt, Burton is greatly aided by Billy Crudup, who underplays potentially cringeworthy bedside scenes with his dying dad. If the ending muddles its message, it'll take a hard heart not to feel touched come the close of Bloom's picaresque adventures. And that's no lie.

Big Fish Released: 07 June 2004 Burton has never been particularly effusive on the commentaries for his past films, so the ‘commentary’ on Big Fish attempts to combat that by throwing in an interviewer (ex-Empire editor and Burton boffin Mark Salisbury). It certainly succeeds in making the director more talkative, relating his ideas on themes, casting and filming, but it’s not strictly a commentary. The conversation bears no relation to what is happening on screen, and it does occasionally make the film a distraction. Better to shut your eyes and think of it as an audio-only interview. Everything else on the disc is largely EPK footage, but with decent interviews. Charismatic McGregor is given the most screen time, while Alison Lohman and Billy Crudup are relegated to occasional snippets. The production featurettes are brief considering how much of a storytelling tool the look of a Tim Burton film is, and the fleeting use of production art makes you wish they’d stuck in a couple of galleries of the beautifully Gothic drawings. The package is rounded out by a tough Burton quiz that will test fans and give geeks the odd bit of trivia. Little tip: his one childhood fear was Bozo The Clown.

Related Reviews

Sounds
Big Fish

Write Your Review
To write your review please login or register.

Your Reviews

Average user rating for Big Fish

Big Fish Review

A charming father-and-son tale filled with typical Tim Burton flourishes. ... More

Posted by the film man at 13:00, 11 May 2012 | Report This Post

Big Fish Review

A charming father-and-son tale filled with typical Tim Burton flourishes. ... More

Posted by the film man at 13:00, 11 May 2012 | Report This Post

Beautiful

This is one of Burton's best movies and it's his most personal. Touching, and colourful and bount to make you shed a tear or two. ... More

Posted by Workshed at 12:56, 22 December 2009 | Report This Post

I loved it, it just grabbed hold of my heart and didn't let go. ... More

Posted by adambt at 14:35, 30 October 2007 | Report This Post

Liked it more the second time......charming.

McGregor, Finney, Bonham-Carter and the rest of the supporting cast are colourful and engaging. Only Crudup and his family are dull. A very nice film. ... More

Posted by dhollseed at 04:56, 18 August 2007 | Report This Post

interesting

really really was compelled with this film. Had alot of qualties to it, was very magical. ... More

Posted by alexisreaver2132 at 11:07, 17 May 2006 | Report This Post

CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS
		Cannes Film Festival Videblogisode #2 Episode II: Attack Of The Clouds featuring Emma Watson and Paul Haggis
		The 20 Soundtracks That Defined The 2000s The sounds of a dark knight, a mischievous Parisian, a troubled family and one flying house...
		Empire's Favourite Music Moments From The Pixies to Burt Bacharach via Audioslave
		Movie Poster Mashups: The Furniture Edition You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be appalled at the punning...
		Exclusive: Why Man Of Steel Wasn't Called Superman Writer and producer David S. Goyer speaks
		Dwayne Johnson Talks Fast & Furious 6 'I wanted to come in and frankly dominate the movie.'
		Music Celebration: David Holmes On The Making Of The Out Of Sight Soundtrack 'I watched the film... the music was all over the shop'

Follow @empiremagazine