Somewhat disappointing but still very good (***)

Rating: 7/10 (8 January 2004)

Tim Burton's thankful return to making films in his own style after the dull, ordinary "Planet Of The Apes" remake in 2001, "Big Fish" isn't quite the fantasy masterpiece I wanted it to be, but is quite good anyway.

Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) is what you would call a storyteller. All his life he has dazzled everyone around him with tall tales about his own life at the drop of a hat, and they are always the right story for the situation. According to him, he has worked in a circus, traveled with a giant, braved a haunted forest, met a witch with a mystical glass eye, found an Eden-like town in the middle of a forest where everyone is always happy, and much, much more. Now, though, he is old, with cancer, and about to die.

His son, William (Billy Crudup), was once just as dazzled as everyone else at his stories, but over time grew tired of his father constantly hogging the spotlight with his silly stories and hasn't spoken to him in years. He leaves with his wife from his home in Paris to return home and try to reconcile with his father.
The elder Bloom has always maintained that every word of his tall tales are absolutely true, that he really did do all those things, but William finally wants to hear the truth about his life. Edward, though, is still resolute that all those stories are true, and as we see those stories for ourselves (with a fresh-faced Ewan MacGregor as the young Edward), we begin to wonder (hope, actually) that some of it might be true.
If ever there was a story that was perfect for Tim Burton ("Edward Scissorhands", "Ed Wood", "Pee Wee's Big Adventure") to tell, this story, about the power of imagination, is it. However, something about it just didn't come together for me. Some of the stories just didn't engage me very much and at times the Burton-esque oddness seems a little forced.

But there are tons of good qualities, not the least of which are good performances by Finney, MacGregor, Crudup, Jessica Lange (as the elder Bloom's wife and William's mother), and Steve Buscemi (as a traveling poet). And I freely admit to crying my eyes out in the last 15 minutes, when the entire film comes together beautifully. Suddenly, right then, I felt the Tim Burton whose style I fell in love with in "Edward Scissorhands" back when I was 12, and that, more than anything, made it worth seeing.