Big Fish
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Movie Reviews of Big Fish
Movie Review: Incredible father/son story
Summary: 5 Stars
The wonderful imagination of Tim Burton strikes again here, in his father and son story of "Big Fish". This movie is the incredible life of Edward Bloom, a grand storyteller whose life has remained a mystery because nobody can seperate the fact from the fiction. Will Bloom is called back from Paris because his father is deathly ill. He brings his pregnant wife Josephine with him, and he will speak with his father in the first time in years. Will's problem with his dad stem from his father always stealing the show at the most important moments of his life, and the fact that he never knew who his father really was, because all he was ever told were elaborate tales of giants and witches and mysterious cities in the middle of nowhere. The goal of Will, played excellently by Billy Crudup (one of the most underrated actors out there, see "Almost Famous" and "Jesus' Son") is to sort out who is father really is.
The father is played by Albert Finney, and Ewan McGregor when he is younger. Both actors take the tall tales and run with them, and both of them come away with very strong performances.
"Big Fish" is the story of leading a huge life, even when it may have been duller than expected. It is the story of a man coming to terms with who his father was, or wasn't, and about the innocence of children dissapearing when the stories of their parents grow old and tiresome. There are so many layers to this movie, each one could be dissected for hours.
The direction here is top-notch, as Burton stuns again with his creative vision. This movie allows him to direct straight-ahead drama, as well as the incredible tales of Edward Bloom, which are visually stunning as well as compelling. All the actors here are good, including Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Danny DeVito and Steve Buschemi.
"Big Fish" is a sad story, the story of a man and his son who stopped believing in him, and it is also a story filled with imagination and grandeur that only Tim Burton could bring to the screen.
Movie Review: Weird and Wonderful
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow! What a movie. We have come to expect the weird and wonderful from director Tim Burton, and with Big Fish he did not disappoint us. Perhaps, this film is the best Burton has done to date- it is a weird and wonderful tale about a Father and Son, life and death and alienation and reconciliation. It is a story of Edward Bloom, masterfully played by both Albert Finney (as the elderly Bloom) and Ewan McGregor (as the younger Bloom). You just never know where this movie is going, what is true or false. Blooms son, Will (played by Billy Crudup) resents the time that his father spent away from home on business, he sees his fathers tall tales as a barrier to intimacy between father and son. As an adult child Will comes home when he learns that he father is dying and attempts to discover the truth behind the tales, thinking that the truth will bring reconciliation and intimacy between father and son. He believes that his fathers absence and tall tales were a ruse to hid a hidden life, perhaps even another family. He cannot believe that a man who told such tales, and who was absent so much of the time could have loved his family the way he said he did. What he does discover is that sometimes the tale is better than the truth. His father lived a mundane life as a salesmen, but in the midst of everyday life, touched the lives of hundreds of people.
I was touched by the love story that supported the plot between Bloom and his wife (played by Jessica Lange). It was good to see Lange act in an older plot. Nothing is sadder than watching a middle aged actor trying to play the part of a young person. One could sense the impending loss, as Bloom lay dying, that this marriage was coming to an end and each party was trying to come to grips with the inevitable conclusion of life- death.
Yes, this movie deals with death, but it is a funny, engaging, touching, and both weird and wonderful. If you are looking for an evenings entertainment, this movie is for you.
Movie Review: Delightful, Deep, and Sensitive
Summary: 5 Stars
Tim Burton is a master of movies that blur genre lines. Burton's Batman and Batman Returns were action-adventure-superhero movies with a twist of black humor provided by Nicholson's Joker and DeVito's Penguin, respectively. Beetlejuice and Sleepy Hollow were horror-comedies, and Mars Attacks was kitsch-scifi-comedy. I could go on, but will get to the point. Big Fish contains elements of tragedy, comedy, adventure, fantasy, and drama, and mixes them up into a delightful and sensitive tall tale unlike any of Burton's other works.The casting is immaculate: Ewan McGregor makes a great younger version of Albert Finney, and Allison Lohman is a dead ringer for a young Jessica Lange. Other members of this stellar cast include Danny DeVito, Steve Buscemi, Billy Crudup, Helena Bonham Carter, and Robert Guillaume.
Although the story is a bit uneven at times, spending a few moments too long in the fantastical reconstructions of Finney's youth, the stories are so worthwhile and entertaining that the viewer is willing to overlook this shortcoming. The movie also runs a bit long at just over two hours, but the final scenes tie the movie together neatly and give the viewer a sense of completeness and satisfaction with the outcome.
The primary theme of the film is the stories that we tell and how they affect other people's lives, a topic in which I have long had a casual interest. A secondary, but nonetheless important theme is one of a son reconciling with, coming to grips with, and ultimately accepting his father for who he is, not who the son wants his father to be. This theme alone makes the film worthwhile, and causes the viewer to reflect on his or her own parental relationship.
Viewed with a less critical eye, the movie is still very entertaining and the sort of wildly imaginative story to which only Burton could do justice. Probably the best film I've seen since The Passion of the Christ.
Movie Review: Re: Amazon.com's editorial review
Summary: 5 Stars
The first words Amazon notes about director Tim Burton are that "[A]fter a string of mediocre movies, director Tim Burton regains his footing..." with "Big Fish".
After a string of WHAT? "Mediocre" movies??? Tim Burton, mediocre director? Excuse me?
Nothing personal, but does the Amazon.com reviewer live in a cave, under a rock perhaps?
That each Tim Burton movie is a visionary creation "sui generis", is evidenced in the following list of his movies swiped from the IMDB:
Planet of the Apes (2001)
Stainboy (2000)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Mars Attacks! (1996)
Ed Wood (1994)
Batman Returns (1992)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Batman (1989)
Beetle Juice (1988)
Now I'll admit to not having seen nor heard of "Stainboy" - but I can't find any "string" here except one of a kind of surreal and original artistic genius. If the Amazon.com reviewer finds mediocrity in any of these movies, may I suggest another line of work (or at the very least, a genre other than editorial movie reviewing)?
That Amazon.com published such an indefensibly wrongheaded introductory remark does nothing to assure readers of their due dilligence in the editorial process.
That is to say, when an Amazon.com review is blatently specious, it must be called to task. Expecting readers to simply accept as a given a most questionable premise flies not only in the face of Logic (it begs the question), but is just pisspoor writing. The alledged "mediocrity" of Burton's output not only asserts a debatable premise as if it were a given fact, but presumes a certain, if undeserved, unimpeachable authority based on nothing but an unsubstianted opinion.
Finally, Albert Finney and Tim Burton should have Oscars for this movie.
Movie Review: A Fairy Tale for Adults
Summary: 5 Stars
"Big Fish" may be Tim Burton's best film. At the very least, it's his most underrated. Everyone always talks about his concept work/production on The Nightmare Before Christmas and his older work, but I'd argue that this is a more solid film than those. Instead of comparing, though, I'll just talk about what makes this movie so great.
The basic plot is this: Edward Blood was never the best father, especially through his son's eyes. He'd always tell patently false tales about his life, often hogging the attention with his fantastic stories. Now, as he gets closer and closer to death, he recounts his stories to his son and his new daughter in law, in hopes that his son will finally come to know who he truly is. This sort of story was perfect for Tim Burton, because he gets to finally flex his creative muscle and pull it in multiple ways, since the "telling stories" parts of this movie make this more like an anthology than a straight film. Burton's over-the-top style often seems like it is just TOO much in some of his films, but his direction was perfect for this movie.
It's a whimsical, heart-breaking, fantastic fairy tale for adults. Not in the dark way that people often assume "for adults" means, but what I mean is that the themes in the story are very much about growing up, what it means to be a man, and the pain and joy and terror of getting old. A lot of it is silly, but certainly in a good way. This film is funny, quirky, weird, beautiful, tragic, and hopeful--much like life itself.
9/10