Movie Review: Big Fish

Big Fish

I will freely confess that seeing the previews for Big Fish didn't do a thing for me. Oh, I like some of the things director Tim Burton has done in the past (the first Batman movie, Edward Scissorhands, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, for example), but Big Fish just looked...odd. A few early reviews, however, convinced me that I needed to give the movie a chance, and so I did. And in the end, I'm sure glad the reviews did what the previews didn't!

The title of the movie refers to the story told by the film on several levels. First, there's the idea of the classic "big fish" story. Typically far more fantastic than the actual event, it often grows still more so with repeated tellings. And then there's the notion of the "big fish in a small pond" where a particularly talented young man or women can be the best of something that a small town has ever seen, but once out in the big bad "ocean" of the rest of the world, the big fish turns out to be pretty little after all. In this movie, the big fish is both "the beast" - a gigantic catfish no one has ever caught and the object of some favorite tall tales - and Edward Bloom (played by Ewan MacGregor in his youth, and by Albert Finney as he ages), a gifted and popular small-town Alabama boy who believes he's meant for "bigger things." Edward's son, Will (Billy Crudup) is caught up in both aspects of the story as he returns home to Alabama because his father is dying. Before Edward passes on, Will just wants to know the true story of his father's life, and not the tall tales he's been told since he was a child. With mediation from his mother, Sandra (played by Alison Lohman as a young woman and by Jessica Lange as she ages), Will sits with his father and tries to separate the fact from fiction before it's too late to ever discover the truth.

Sure, Big Fish has some messages. First, even fantastic stories have elements of truth in them. In fact, even some fantastic chapters in fantastic stories can turn out to be true. Some might also finally learn that it's okay to live partially in a fantasy world as long as you're functioning fine in the real world (which, to be honest, sometimes needs a little dressing up - as Edward Bloom the elder puts it, a man can tell you the facts, but that's just borning). Wouldn't you prefer the more interesting version of any story? Will wouldn't. Until, that is, he begins to face the fact that he really knows and loves his father better than he thought after all. And the stories themselves, reenacted from Edward's past, often provide lessons of their own, such as hard work earns rewards, and being good to people is often good for you, too. I recognize that I'm making Big Fish sound like some sort of morality play, but it's far more a delightful - and delightfully told - fairy tale.

Tim Burton often chooses relatively dark and depressing scripts to produce. He then directs them flawlessly to a dark, depressing, and frequently surreal conclusion. Big Fish, though surreal at times, is also quite real and heartfelt. It's colorful and filled with the light of the love for life, family and friends borne by the title character. In short, it's Tim Burton on anti-depressants, and it's very, very good. Ewan MacGregror is terrific, but Albert Finney is even better. Alison Lohman is good, but Jessica Lange is brilliant. Helena Bonham Carter (who plays both a young woman named Jenny and an elderly witch from Bloom's past) is more than capable of stretching to play the far ends of the spectrum she's assigned. Danny DeVito is just wonderful as a slightly demented circus ringmaster with secrets of his own, and it's just lovely to see Robert Guillaume (Dr. Bennett) onscreen again after suffering a debilitating stroke (which has slowed him down a little, but hasn't taken away a bit of his acting ability). It's only fair that such a gifted ensemble cast should have been assembled for Big Fish because the script (based on a novel) is just superb and entirely worthy of them.

Big Fish has been nominated for four Golden Globe awards, including Best Picture (comedy or musical, where it will be up against the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean) as well as a Best Actor nod for Finney (again competing with Pirates of the Caribbean where Johnny Depp has been nominated). Personally, I think Pirates edges Big Fish out for both awards, but I also think it's worthy competition. And given the movie that Pirates of the Caribbean is, that's a sincere compliment both to Burton and the amazing cast he's assembled to tell his own Big Fish story.

FAMILY SUITABILITY: Big Fish is rated PG-13. According to the ratings banner, that's because there's a fight scene, some images of nudity, and some suggestive references. Personally, I think PG would have been more appropriate. There's nothing there - including the nudity - that even a relatively young child couldn't see. Although the whole story is quite adult in all of its many implications and shaded lessons, the tall tales interwoven throughout will captivate even fairly young kids. I don't see why those of age 6 or so and up couldn't enjoy this movie almost as much as the rest of us. Certainly, I do recommend that - with or without the kids - you make time to catch Big Fish yourself. You won't be disappointed.