"There are some fish that cannot be caught."

Rating: 8/10 (17 June 2014)

A lovely, touching film that has only gotten better over time. Big Fish has many detractors, even among people who are normally big fans of Tim Burton. I wonder if these people expect that every film he does should look the same? Because by the time Big Fish came out, he was frankly in a rut. I think it's his most unique film and certainly one of his best. The performances by the cast are all excellent, particularly the supporting players. As the present-day Edward and Sandra, Albert Finney and Jessica Lange are every bit as good as you would expect from these vets. As the younger Ed and Sandra, Ewan McGregor and Alison Lohman both hold their own, though Lohman gets little to do. McGregor's Southern accent is a little over the top but this is a story about a man who was over the top so it doesn't really hurt anything. The rest of the cast is great. The look of the film is superb. I do wish he could have made it without much CGI (the "big fish," for example, looked extremely fake). But I realize that I'm fighting an uphill battle asking that of mainstream directors these days. Anyway, great film. Heartfelt and magical. A tribute to storytellers. It's also the film debut of Miley Cyrus but we'll forgive it for that.