Outstanding, in spite of ...

Rating: 8/10 (1 May 2004)

I did not care much for the performance of Ewan McGregor and I am not a fan of Albert Finney. In spite of that, I thought the movie was absolutely outstanding. My wife and I watched "Love Actually" the night before and after seeing "Big Fish" we had no doubt that we saved the better for last. Perhaps, for those who didn't care for it, a certain amount of experience with people you don't care for until you come to understand them and then realize how nice they really are helps. The fact that it reminded me of my dad who passed away several years ago and whom I miss very much made the ending more poignant for me. But, I liked the movie before that.

In a way, the movie was a bit of a mystery with the viewer trying to figure out just what was true and what was not as the story progressed. Such clues as the fact that older Ed was always thirsty, which implied that the fish story was more significant than the others, and the obvious significance of the town of Specter gave the viewer a lot to think about. I think that for me, trying to solve the riddle was what held my attention: and then, given all that, the ending made perfect sense.