Big Fish (2003)

Director: Tim Burton

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup

A frustrated son tries to determine the fact from fiction in his dying father’s life.

In the words of one of the characters “Not everything makes sense, but that’s the kind of story this is.” And indeed so, not everything here makes sense…

Will Bloom tells the story of his Dad, who told the most unusual and extraordinary stories, which supposedly happened to him. This is a fairytale and it is magical and fantastical – complete with a giant, a witch, and a werewolf.

The film itself is a bunch of stories thrown together, and might as well have been an anthology film. ‘Big Fish’ is an incredibly well made and highly acclaimed film, but let me make a confession: the first time I watched it, I found it slow moving. Thinking I probably wasn’t in the right frame of mind when I watched it, I decided to watch it again. Sure enough, again I found it a bit slow. Extremely well made with fantastic visuals, off course, but nevertheless a bit slow.

‘Big Fish’ is a film about telling stories. How much of it is true (according to Ed Bloom senior) is an entirely different story altogether. Let’s just assume the film is set in a world and time when these fantastical things do happen. It is still up to Will to make up his own mind.

Ultimately, this is a love story, with Ed Bloom telling the story of how he met is wife, and the lengths he went through to be with her. (The things men would do for a girl, I thought rolling my eyes and shaking my head…)

‘Big Fish’ does have a heartfelt ending, but was it interesting enough (for me) despite all the magical elements and great visuals? Well, I know for a fact I’m going to offend many fans by saying ‘no’. But alas, I just didn’t find it interesting enough.

‘Big Fish’ deserves to be seen though. From great visuals to costumes and production design, this is a very good production in its entirety and I complement Tim Burton on a job well done. It’s just not entirely my thing…

‘Big Fish’ received 69 award nominations including as Oscar nomination for Best Original Score. At the box office, it earned $123 million on a budget of $70 million.

Would I watch it again? No. Twice was enough.