Big Fish, Big Burton

Rating: 10/10 (20 August 2008)

Tim Burton is one of my favorite directors. I really love the way his films look, his characters, his storyline, his feeling for fantasy and of course the way he directs Johnny Depp en Helena Bonham Carter, two of my favorite actors.
Anyway, why I really really love Big Fish is quite simple really: how Burton tells this warm-hearted story about a man who wants to know what's real of the stories his dad used to tell him. I work at a videostore and every time people ask me for a good movie, I tell them to go watch Big Fish. It's sad that when, the most of them, they see the cover of this film, they put it away and say: 'No, I don't like fantasy-films.' They think they've got a film like Harry Potter or Stardust, but you can't even compare those two with the wonderful Big Fish. Why? Because Tim Burton doesn't make purely fantasy: his films are more. Harry Potter is purely fantasy. I believe Stardust is also, but I can try believe that there's a higher message in that one. Anyway: Big Fish is serious in the fantasy. Burton doesn't handle the fantasy like fantasy, but as something that's serious and it is in Big Fish, because it has a very big role in the lives of the son and his father. These aren't just some stories told before going to sleep. It's part of two lives, and it made those two lives misunderstood by each other. That's also why I love Burton so much: he doesn't take fantasy as something light, he gives it meaning. I'm a writer (a Dutch writer, that's why my English is so bad ;)) and I find it most important to show everyone how important it is to use your imagination/fantasy. Not only because it's fun, there's more to it. Burton understands that and you can see it in his films. Especially in this one and in Edward Scissorhands.
Burton's main character is set to go on a wonderful journey, where he will learn the meaning of so many things. Things that go, yes they really do, beyond your everyday life, simple because you forgot about their existing. Things you don't stand still by anymore, these days. In Burton's very own unique way, he shows you the love of a father for his child, and the love of a child for his father, meanwhile showing how understanding for the father grows. It's a journey of growing up, but also one of staying a kid, and the importance of staying a kid.
This really is one of my favorite.