Big Fish (2003)

BIG FISH (2003)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Viewed on February 15th, 2004
RATING: Three stars

"Big Fish" is a spasmodically engaging fantasy that yearns to be more. Call it magical realism to the nth degree or a further attempt to deconstruct fantasy from reality, Tim Burton's flair and sleight-of-hand playfulness is certainly more evident than ever. And it is a delight to have him back, in full Burtonian form.

Adapted from a 1998 novel, "Big Fish" begins with Senior Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) reminiscing about his past to children around a campfire, at parties and to anyone else that wants to listen. Edward's stories involve giants invading small towns and eating sheep, a ringmaster who turns into a wolf, a witch with an eye that can foretell the future, big fishes caught and then released, a small perfect, dreamlike town called Spectre, bank robberies run afoul, and so on. They are embellished tales, or tall tales if you like, and Edward relishes every word he says with utmost glee. Everyone seems engaged by his stories except his son, Will (Billy Crudup), a journalist who wishes his father would tell him the truth just once. He knows the details of these stories almost as well as his father does.

The film has flashbacks to these tall tales, and this is where director Tim Burton is engaged and coiled in tightly - sheer fantasy with loopy, colorful backdrops are his forte. The tales stay with you. Who can forget the giant who has a heart after all? And how about the ringmaster (Danny De Vito) who takes a chance on the giant and uses him as part of his act? The witch who lives in a house surrounded by fog and darkness, an Edward Scissorhands relative maybe? Speaking of good old Eddie and his incisors, there is the clean-cut image of Edward Bloom selling hand-shaped contraptions that can be used for anything. By the way, Young Edward Bloom is wonderfully played by Ewan McGregor, who shows his range in playing an Everyman with flaws. How anyone associates this character with Forrest Gump, as mentioned by some critics, is beyond me except that Ed goes through an incredibly vivid journey, albeit a lot weirder than anything Gump ever went through.

The town of Spectre is the centerpiece of the film, and an unusually surreal place that seems hidden from the world (it reminded of stories where ghost towns in New Jersey still seem perfectly preserved). In Spectre, happiness is everywhere, and people like poet Norther Winslow (Steve Buscemi) can delight in writing bad poetry (the joke is he spends ten years writing one stanza that would shun him from the poetry world completely). Spectre almost looks like a town from a Western, and nobody is allowed to wear shoes. Edward inadvertently finds himself in this glorious place, but then he realizes he has bigger goals and bigger ambitions after leaving his own hometown. Spectre, though, is a place Edward can't and won't forget, though I'd hate to ruin the surprise for you.

"Big Fish" is toned-down Burton mechanics so do not expect the whiz-bang effects or the rousing nature of "Batman" or the melancholic chaos of "Edward Scissorhands." The ending is sad but also optimistic, a rarity for Burton. My biggest gripe is that, excepting the grand Albert Finney, the present day sequences are almost a bore, lacking any of the freshness and imaginative spin in the flashbacks. Though one can suspect that reality is always more boring than fantasy, this is still a movie - and reality is not always so bland and dull. Another problem is the lack of real depth in any of the characters. Edward Bloom is a cipher and should be depicted as such in the tall tales, but in reality, what kind of man is he really? His son, Will, is given zilch in terms of how he really feels about his father and mother - only wanting his father to tell the truth doesn't cut it. At least one scene where Ed and Will really talk to each other might have helped - their one scene at a hospital is not as revelatory as one might hope. And Ed's wife, Sandra (played as a teenager by Alison Lohman, and as an adult by Jessica Lange) barely registers as anything except a token role, and a thankless one at that.

Still, "Big Fish" is often amazingly entertaining, funny and whimsical, and keeps us captivated waiting to see what happens. The romantic notion in this film is that tall tales can keep us from losing our own interest in reality, which is not as much fun. Edward Bloom wants to live on with the fantasy, not the reality. The trick is in keeping our realities just as close to the heart, because we are living them. If only Burton had examined this further, he would have had bigger fish to fry.

For more reviews, check out JERRY AT THE MOVIES at http://www.geocities.com/faustus_08520/Jerry_at_the_Movies.html

Email: Faust668@aol.com or at faustus_08520@yahoo.com

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X-Language: en
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X-RT-RatingText: 3/4