Light but deep.

Rating: 8/10 (24 January 2016)

This movie features what I like to call "magic within reality", which means that the things within the story that are abnormal to us as the audience are also strange to the characters. I think this makes it one of Tim Burton's more approachable movies for people who don't appreciate the abnormality of much of his work. Of course, the actual presence of magic within the story that Edward Bloom has woven around his life is questionable. But if you listen to the podcast "Scriptnotes" with John August and Craig Mazin, you'll know that John August opened this screenplay with the caveat "This is a southern story full of lies and fabrications, but truer for their inclusion" or something like that. I think that's basically the philosophy behind Edward Bloom's stories: he sees what we're probably mundane events as mystical and fantastic because they had that kind of effect on him emotionally.
Although the story centers around Edward Bloom and the retrospective look at his life, it's really more about his son Will coming to a better understanding of his father and becoming a less sour person. At first he just seems like a Scrooge character that's inexplicably angry, but then it breaks away from the flashback to Edward's life and shows us that Will's aversion to his father's stories has some foundation. He has no idea who his dad really is and doesn't know what to believe about life. Edward Bloom doesn't have much development, but is rather defined by his notable personality, the adventures he has, and the people he meets. It was interesting how he based his actions around knowing that he wasn't going to die in any given situation. Josephine, Will's wife, is a somewhat notable character in learning about her father-in-law for the first time. Jenny the girl from Spectre is also fairly important with her insight and understanding of Edward. There are lots of other minor characters from Karl the giant, the Siamese twins Ping and Jing, the ringmaster Amos Calloway, Sandra Templeton, Don Price, Doctor Bennet, and Norther Winslow the bank robber. The funeral scene at the end, and by that I mean the actual funeral as opposed to the one Will describes, is a really wonderful scene that shows how much joy Edward brought throughout his life.
I thought the acting was quite good all around. John August did a pretty good job with the script, especially with developing a lot of characters with minimal screen time. I don't like Danny Elfman's attempts at action scores, but he did a good job on the music here. Burton's fantastical costuming and creatures is less present than in some of his other material, mostly only coming out in the circus sequences.
I will grant that it does feel a bit like Forrest Gump, but I think it's distinct enough that it can't be called a rip-off of Gump. Some of it is kind of weird, but there is enough normality for it to be bearable. You don't need to worry too much about paying close attention, just know that the minor characters are going to come back later on. It's a nice story that will likely leave you in a good mood, but has a decent amount of substance to it as well. Overall Rating: 8.1/10.