In life, it's sometimes impossible to separate fact from fiction, or a man from his myth. Edward Bloom (Ewan McGregor) has always been a man of big appetites, enormous passions and tall tales. Yet even on his sickbed, Edward - portrayed in old age by five-time Best Actor Oscar nominee Albert Finney - remains a huge mystery to his son, William (Billy Crudup). Now, to get to know the real man, Will begins piecing together a true picture of his father from flashbacks of his amazing adventures in this marvel of a movie.
(110 votes)
2.
From the imagination of visionary director Tim Burton, comes the fantasy-rich family drama Big Fish.
A web-like tapestry woven of stories both real and exaggerated, Big Fish is the story of Edward Bloom and those who love him. Even if he doesn’t always believe every word he says, for Edward it’s all in the telling.
As an eight-year old confined to bed because of a preternatural growing spurt, Edward occupies himself by reading the entire World Book Encyclopedia. He is taken in particular with an article about goldfish, in which he learns that "if goldfish are kept in a small bowl, they will remain small. With more space, the fish can double, triple or quadruple its size."
Ten years later, after becoming one of the most popular young men in Ashton, Alabama, he realizes that, like the goldfish, in order for him to grow he must leave home and explore the world. As he confides to his new friend Karl the Giant, "You think this town is too small for you? Well, it’s too small for a man of my ambition. I love every square inch of it. But I can feel the edges closing in on me. A man’s life can only grow to a certain size in a place like this."
And thus, an improbable and mythic journey begins.
Many years and countless adventures later, Bloom (Albert Finney) is well known as a teller of tall tales about his colorful life as a less than ordinary young man (Ewan McGregor), when his wanderlust took him around the world and back again. His mythic exploits range from the delightful to the surreal, interweaving epic sagas about giants and werewolves, conjoined Korean lounge singers, a witch with a glass eye that can see the future - and of course, a big fish that refuses to be caught.
Bloom’s fabled stories charm everyone he encounters except his son Will (Billy Crudup), who has also left home but in this case to get out from under his father’s considerable shadow. When Edward becomes ill and his wife, Sandra (Jessica Lange), tries to reconcile them, Will embarks on his own personal journey trying to separate the myth from the reality of his father’s life and come to terms with the man’s giant feats and great failings.
The other travelers on this wondrous and moving voyage include Helena Bonham Carter as a woman who appears in different forms - including an enchanted witch. Alison Lohman portrays the young Sandra, the one true love of Edward’s life, and newcomer Marion Cotillard plays Will’s wife, Josephine. Steve Buscemi is the rueful poet turned bank robber turned Wall Street baron Norther Winslow and Danny DeVito plays Amos Calloway, the bamboozling owner and ringmaster of a traveling circus.
(96 votes)
3.
IN THEATRES: DECEMBER 10, 2003
In Tim Burton's family film BIG FISH, a wonderful storyteller named Edward Bloom (Albert Finney), who lives in a small town in Alabama, recounts tall tales of his wild worldly adventures. These are shown in flashback with Ewan McGregor playing the young Bloom. Wonderful special effects and vibrant colors that pop off the screen make this Burton film a much sunnier experience than his macabre gems EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and BEETLEJUICE. Yet his signature quirky artistry is unmistakable, and the movie benefits from crisp production values and a loveable, bizarre cast of characters.
Told through a series of vignettes, Bloom's stories involve a witch, a giant, a haunted forest, and yes, a big fish. A self-described small-town hero, Bloom explains how he left home at 18 determined to experience anything and everything life could dish out. He worked for the circus, took on daring assignments as WWII soldier, and rambled across the country as a zany traveling salesman. Utterly unbelievable yet magical and delightful, Bloom's stories just don't translate to his son Will (Billy Crudup) who wants to know his dad's "true" life story. But little by little--through increasingly outlandish tales at which Will cannot resist smirking--the two begin to understand each other, and Bloom weaves his stories into their genealogical fabric.
(104 votes)
4.
(80 votes)
5.
(78 votes)
6.
After a string of mediocre movies, director Tim Burton regains his footing as he shifts from macabre fairy tales to southern tall tales. Big Fish twines in and out of the oversized stories of Edward Bloom, played as a young man by Ewan McGregor and as a dying father by Albert Finney. Edward's son Will (Billy Crudup) sits by his father's bedside but has little patience with the old man's fables, because he feels these stories have kept him from knowing who his father really is. Burton dives into Bloom's imagination with zest, sending the determined young man into haunted woods, an idealised southern town, a travelling circus and much more. The result is sweet but--thanks to the director's dark and clever sensibility--never saccharine. The film also features Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Helena Bonham Carter, Danny DeVito and Steve Buscemi. --Bret Fetzer
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