A Bit Too Tall of a Tale

Rating: 8/10 (16 January 2004)

"Big Fish" as directed by Tim Burton pays lavish attention to detail, and that alone makes for this to be an enjoyable and entertaining film viewing experience. The renderings of the fantastic tales of the elder Mr. Bloom are very visually rewarding and interesting, and the plot-line of the son's reconciliation with the dying father (and all of those tall tales) is a reasonable enough framework on which to have constructed the movie. In all that detail and elaborate storytelling, however, some elaborate threads are left dangling, some storylines seem to have been changed mid-movie and some, briefly alluded to, and left sadly unexplored. These deficiencies do not prevent the film from being sentimental fun, creatively satisfying and well worth seeing, but nonetheless hold it short of attaining the distinction of a "great" movie. There is enough symbolism and allusions to previous movies (his own and others)to keep film students and movie buffs busy analyzing and debating for years, but maybe Mr. Burton should have kept his eye more on the actual telling of the storyteller's story, rather than on constructing some of the perhaps too clever asides. I hate to say it, but there's just something fishy about that.