A beautiful film

Rating: 9/10 (14 April 2017)

I just saw this the whole way through for the first time on DVD. I laughed. I cried. I was enthralled. The actors are all perfectly cast, and are completely committed to this story, which points out that while the tall tales we tell may not be the whole truth, they are also the spice of life, and sustain us in good times and bad. We actually need them to survive. Much like we need movies. Albert Finney is possibly the most under-rated actor ever; as the dying Edward Bloom, he is a wonderful raconteur but also tender and loving. Billy Crudup does a sterling job as his bitter, very skeptical son, who is tired of his father never letting facts get in the way of a good story. As Edward's wife, Jessica Lange is luminous. She has long accepted his eccentric ways, and loves him for it. The scene of she and Edward in the bathtub is incredibly moving. As the young Edward, Scottish actor Ewan McGregor brings a nutty energy to his role. In the flashback scenes that the older Edward narrates about him, McGregor undergoes all sorts of wondrous adventures - from befriending a giant living in a cave, to fending off jumping spiders and a werewolf, to visiting a phantom village where no one ever leaves, to parachuting out of a plane in wartime and meeting beautiful Siamese twin women.The supporting actors are exceptional. Danny De Vito obviously relishes playing a brash circus ringmaster who Edward eventually befriends. Helena Bonham Carter plays an eccentric older woman who may, or may not, have had an affair with the younger Edward. Steve Buscemi, as usual, is entertaining and endearing as both a hopeless poet in the phantom village, and later an inept bank robber who once again crosses paths with Edward. French actor Marion Cotillard, playing the older Edward's daughter-in-law, is a key element in the story - as a newcomer to the family, she wants to understand and get to know Edward, so she asks him to tell her more about his life. Best of all, the film is made with great love by director Tim Burton. The fish metaphor might be a little overdone, but I think ultimately the film works beautifully, whether it's as a comment on humanity, a fairytale, an escape, or a fun lark. Whatever you want to make of it.