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The tall tale has been a staple of literature since its very beginning. What else is literature but the writing down of myth, the setting down of stories? And if storytelling has become more focused on realism in the last 100 years, it still hearkens back to its origins. Movies, especially in the blockbuster era, have had an uneasy relationship with the tall tale. Though the action blockbuster is nothing if not fantastical, movies have attempted to disguise that with more realistic special effects. Directors like Terry Gilliam (Adventures of Baron Munchausen) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (City of Lost Children) try to highlight the fabulous and imaginary in their movies, but they're the exceptions.

Tim Burton is also part of that exceptional group, and his new film Big Fish is a perfect example of the tall tale. It focuses on Ed Bloom (Albert Finney), a dying father who's led a spectacularly adventurous life. His son Will (Billy Crudup) could not be more different. He's a down-to-earth, rational man who can't stomach his father's stories. In fact, the two have been estranged for years, but Ed is dying, and Will has to bury the hatchet. Will, though, isn't willing to overlook everything, and he seizes upon a final visit to force his father to admit those tales he's told aren't true. Along for the ride is Will's wife Josephine, who hasn't heard all of Ed's stories. Which is a perfect set-up for Ed to tell them again.

The movie alternates between the older Ed Bloom telling the stories and a younger Ed Bloom (Ewan McGregor) in the midst of them. So we see Ed's first adventure as a young boy visiting the house of a witch. We see Ed meeting a giant and then setting off with him. The two split up, which leads to Ed finding the pristine town of Spectre as well as his future wife (played by Alison Lohman in the past, Jessica Lange in the present). Other episodes include a fantastic circus led by a ringmaster/werewolf (Danny DeVito), a parachuting escapade in China complete with Siamese twins, and bank robberies in the old West. These adventures are filled with Burton's striking visual style (helped by production designer Dennis Gassner) and whimsy.

It's always a joy to see Albert Finney on the screen and, unlike his roles in Erin Brockovich or Miller's Crossing, here he takes center stage and never lets go. Ewan McGregor may have more screen time (and a great deal of charisma himself), but he can't upstage his older counterpart. Even when Finney's bedridden, his gravelly voice commands our attention. It helps that the character of Ed Bloom is a provocative one. We know he's not completely telling the truth, but how close is he?

An interesting comparison might be Don Quixote, another man who saw himself as larger than life. Both Big Fish and the novel Don Quixote are intentionally episodic, fixated on the ideas of stories and how we tell them. Both combine the difficult pairing of adventure and comedy, though in the movie Ed Bloom is never the butt of any joke (a fault of the movie). And both feature a much more rational, if ineffectual, sidekick--Sancho Panza in the novel and Will Bloom in the movie. Both men attempt to bring their story-telling partners back to reality, or some part of it, at least. The difference is that Sancho remains one of the great characters in all of literature, while Billy Crudup seems to be auditioning for a particularly wooden version of Clark Kent.

A much bigger difference, though, lies in the authors' motivations. Cervantes was satirizing the public's interest in stories of chivalry, while Burton is celebrating the tall tale, which happens to be Burton's own stock in trade. In that sense, Big Fish is the most personal of Burton's films since his breakout movie Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. His affection for Ed Bloom is obvious. Whether Bloom's adventures are the stuff of legend or truth is no matter. Like Quixote, his version of reality, made-up or not, is part of his charm. In a genuinely beautiful moment near the movie's end, the older Bloom imagines his son carrying him on a final farewell ride, past all of the characters he's encountered over his life. The joy on Albert Finney's face cannot be described, except to say that it's transcendent.

As with Quixote's fantasies, the truth eventually comes out in a confrontation with death. But while Quixote's deathbed scene always brings tears of sadness to my eyes, Big Fish's funeral scene brought tears of joy. I won't spoil the surprise, but it's absolutely perfect.

In the movie's opening scene, Ewan McGregor tells us, "There are some fish that can't be caught." The same is true for the tone of magical realism. Directors (and writers) can try to manufacture that combination of whimsy and gravity, but its arrival is usually a matter of chance. For much of Big Fish, Burton and his cast never quite find it, but then, like Sancho Panza's island, it appears out of nowhere. It may not make for an altogether successful movie, but it ends up being a satisfying one. 

J. Robert Parks  12/19/2003

Big Fish is about fishing.  That sounds logical, doesn’t it?  The main character leaves home because he doesn’t want to be a big fish in a small town.  The film opens with the big fish that got away…or did it?  Something fishy here. Can’t help but pun with director Tim Burton’s sense of humor and John August’s tongue-in-cheek script, or should that be, hook-in-mouth?  Oh, well, sit back and enjoy Big Fish because that it was it is.  Entertainment.  A story of family relationships, friendships, travel, and best of all, love.  The main character is Edward Bloom, played as an older, dying man by Albert Finney and as a young man by Ewan McGregor.  Billy Crudup is Edward’s son, Will, with Jessica Lange as Edward’s wife, Sandra, and Marion Cotillard as Will’s French wife, Josephine.

As a young man, Edward Bloom knew he had talent and wanted to leave his small town.  He was the best at everything he tried to do, even accomplishing the dare to visit the town witch (Helena Bonham Carter) to see his future. Along his travels, Edward meets a giant, Karl (Matthew McGrory who is in the Guinness Book of Records as having the largest feet in the world), works in a carnival owned by Danny DeVito (a man with a secret) and meets various people at the carnival including conjoined Korean twins.  After the carnival, Edward travels through the town of Spectre, Alabama, eventually meets his true love, Sandra (Jessica Lange) at college, defeats her suitors and with a field of daffodils, wins her heart.  Then comes marriage, a job, children, and Edward is still off to see the world while Sandra keeps the house and young Will has an absent father.  This all eventually catches up with Edward.

Big Fish shows what people do to survive.  They adapt or ignore.  Jessica Lange as Edward’s wife, learned to do both because she loved her husband.  Young Will did neither and it came out in later years as rebellion against his father.  Edward Bloom figured he didn’t have to do either, because the world was his oyster.  Alas, Jenny (Helena Bonham Carter again) had to adapt and ignore.  The actors inhabiting the roles do a sensitive job in this fantasy.  Ewan McGregor shows purpose, no fear, and a willingness to try anything.   When he is in a scene of time standing still, you can believe it.  Albert Finney is the dying man who won’t give up.  There is a scene in a bathtub (this is delicately done, reader) with wife Sandra (Lange) that is love, personified. Facial expressions say it all.  Billy Crudup as Edward’s son, Will, has to show disbelieving most of the time and he does this, but when any other expression is called for, Crudup doesn’t produce, also, Helena Bonham Carter is in the same boat.  When she is telling her story, emotion is called for and we don’t get it.  Her character is the one that could have used bolstering.  It is the supporting cast that will catch your eye.  Danny DeVito is hilarious as the carnival owner and Steve Buscemi steals his scenes as a poet who can’t get beyond the third line.  Matthew McCrory as Karl the Giant, shows humor and intelligence as a person who comes slowly adapts to the world. 

There are many sight gags in Big Fish and Tim Burton’s eye for fantasy will remind you of his work on Edward Scissorhands.  My favorite scene is where Edward is caught in a flash flood and ends up with his car atop a tree.  There is also the humorous birth of a baby and the various jobs Edwards had at the carnival.  The idea of running away with a carnival won’t be as appealing when you see him working with elephants.

This reviewer was caught up in Tim Burton’s film.  The cast worked well so that you could see how Ewan McGregor’s character could become Albert Finney’s personage.

The same with the young Sandra (Alison Lohman) who matures into Jessica Lange’s character.  This is a love story between a man and a woman, a father and a son, and the son and his wife.  Love is endless and travels on its journey through many generations.  May we be so endowed.

Copyright 2003 Marie Asner
12/29/2003