Burton Makes A Nice, Light Film

Rating: 8/10 (24 January 2006)

This "fish tale" is generally a nice story about a father who tells tall tales for years to everyone and has a son who has resented those stories, thinking his father was nothing but hot air.
The big pluses for this film were the colorful scenes and the fact that is was simply a nice story. Since this is a Tim Burton film, it's no surprise that the visuals are so entertaining but it is a surprise that the story isn't a dark one. I guess that disappointed a lot of his fans but thought it was a Irefreshing change of pace from him, and I appreciated his effort here. It's the kind of movie many folks wish they made more of today.
The fun parts of the film are not the beginning or ending but the middle in which the dad's stories are brought to life. There are some strange and fun characters. The story is a bit too much New Age/reincarnation mumbo-jumbo but the whole thing is so bizarre that you can't take anything seriously....except the father-and-son relationship, of course, which is meaningful. That may be a bit heavy but almost all the film is a lighthearted fantasy.