Rather magical, highly enjoyable

Rating: 8/10 (19 January 2004)

I don't know if I agree with people who say this is Tim Burton's finest, but `Big Fish' is certainly a wonderful, enjoyable movie. It's not perfect but it is bold, creative, funny, and incredibly touching. I found myself crying through much of the movie, which focuses on Edward Bloom (Albert Finney, who brings humor and touching gravity to his role), a dying man who loves to tell stories, and his relationship with his son (Billy Crudup). Because `Big Fish' mostly details Edward Bloom's life, the movie has brilliant style, although some parts were a little too stretched out for my taste.
`Big Fish' deals with flashbacks that look at Edward's life through his stories. Ewan McGregor is wonderful as the young Edward Bloom. McGregor has a great gift for facial expressions, so he is a delight to watch onscreen. Most of his adventures are particularly wonderful, especially the one about how he meets his wife, gets to know her, serves in a war, and returns to her. I was crying my eyes out throughout the entire sequencebecause the story is so shockingly inventive and so heartwrenching. It kills me just to think of it. Their love for each other withstands time (something beautiful it itself); there is one scene with the old Edward and his wife (Jessica Lange) in a bathtub that is absolutely gorgeous in its simplicity.	And, like some of Tim Burton's other movies (like `Edward Scissorhands'), the heart of the story is `love,' love between a man and wife, love between a father and his son. I love how Burton has interpreted it in `Big Fish' and showed it to us through Edward's crazy stories. 8/10