Big Fish (2003)

"Big Fish"

Will Bloom (Billy Crudup), a reporter for the Associated Press in Paris, takes an urgent phone call from his mother (Jessica Lange) all the way from Ashton, Alabama. She tells him that his tall-tale telling father, Edward (Albert Finney), is dying from cancer. Will and his pretty, pregnant wife, Josephine (Marion Cotillard), jump on a plane and the proverbial prodigal son returns home to confront and console the man he has clashed with all of his life in Tim Burton's "Big Fish."

Will, a straightforward seeker of truth, has never fallen to the charms of the outrageous yarns that his father has always told, captivating everyone he meets. For all of his life the younger Bloom has heard the stories about giants and werewolves, conjoined Korean Lounge singers, a witch with a prophetic glass eye, a magical town and, of course, a very big fish.

This fish story turns to Edward in youthful form, a young man who has the world by the tail and can't wait to leave his hometown of Ashton. First, though, he volunteers to do battle with a monster ravaging the countryside, devouring cattle. The "beast," it turns out, is really a misunderstood giant named Karl (Matthew McGrory) that Edward cleans up and the two hit the road for adventures unknown.

The pair part ways when Edward decides to take the path less traveled and ends up in a dark and scary forest where he is chased by angry bees and swarmed by giant jumping spiders. He falls upon the small, picturesque town of Spectre where the streets are made of well-mowed grass and nobody wears shoes. Edward is intoxicated by the town and its people, including poet Norther Winslow (Steve Buscemi), who eventually turns bank robber then Wall Street entrepreneur. As taken as he is to Spectre it is still a small pond and Edward is a big fish with even bigger ambitions and he moves on.

After teaming up with Karl again, they attend the circus run by ringmaster Amos Calloway (Danny DeVito) where Edward spots Sandra (Alison Lohman), the young woman he knows will be his wife and life long companion. But, before he can meet her, she is spirited away and he indentures himself to Amos on the circus owner's promise to divulge a piece of information about Sandra every month. Three long years later, with Edward mastering all the arts and tasks of the big top, he gets all of the vital pieces and finds his true love. And, he is not remotely discouraged to find out she is engaged to his old high school rival, Don Price (David Denman). Edward finally woos prettt Sandra with a little display of 10000 daffodils, her favorite flower.

These are some of the stories that Edward has always woven through his middle years and beyond and Will has never believed any of them. As father and son spend time together, Will begins to see that, in his dad's wild fabrications, there is an underlying truth in the tales. "Big Fish" is both a realization of Edward's stories and the reconciliation and understanding that is gained between an ailing father and his son.

I liked, but didn't love, "Big Fish." Parts of it were excellent but the main problem was Ewan McGregor as Edward Bloom the younger. I don't think it's the actor's fault but his Edward is more an ever smiling, glad handing caricature than genuine character. McGregor gives an effervescent perf, not much different from his in "Down with Love," and is likable as heck but not very more than a cartoonish sketch of a character. Though younger Edward is the film's prominent character, he is overshadowed by the supporting actors and the often-quirky stories.

Albert Finney and Jessica Lange, when together as the mature Blooms, have the best chemistry in "Big Fish," but their scenes are far too infrequent. There are some very nice casting choices with the younger versions of the characters morphing smoothly into their older counterparts. McGregor is much like the Albert Finney of "Tom Jones (1963)" fame. Alison Lohman is a dead ringer to Lange as younger Sandra. Helena Bonham Carter does triple duty as the Witch and the younger and senior Jenny, the unrequited love of the ever-faithful-to-Sandra Edward. Steve Buscemi and Danny Devito perform their expanded cameo roles well enough.

"Big Fish" is mid-level Tim Burton. It's not as good as, say, "Beetlejuice," Edward Scissorhands" or "Ed Wood," but way better than "Mars Attacks" and "Planet of the Apes." The story, adapted from the Daniel Wallace novel by scripter John August, is a collection of fantasy tales that readily display the adventures of young Edward. They are a series of vignettes as the ever-positive Bloom moves from one fantastical anecdotal interlude to the next. As such, the story doesn't flow as much as it jumps between Edward's adventures and the reconciliation between Blooms, father and son.

"Big Wish" has many of the quirky production elements that are familiar from Burton's previous films. There are the streets of small town America lined with perky, pastel houses set in idyllic locales, like in "Edward Scissorhands," and the circus setting revisited from "Big Top Peewee." Tim Burton's vision of his fantasy world is well handled by veteran production designer and Oscar winner Dennis Gassner. Costume, too, by Colleen Atwood, lends to the surreal world that revolves around young Bloom. Philippe Rousselot's masterful lensing is a thing of beauty.

Tim Burton continues his mostly successful directorial career with another sound entry. "Big Fish" is not one of his best but, still, an interesting story of a father and son finding each other at long last. I give it a B.

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