Only Tim Burton . . .

Rating: Null/10 (17 March 2004)

. . . and his incredibly artistic visionary could bring such a tall tale to life so effectively. I love this story's simplicity. The heart of the story is merely a question  who is Edward Bloom? Answering, however, well. . . we get far more than we could bargain for. The answer is a fantastic ride through Bloom's imagination, a very very unique answer . . . and I can hardly think of any directors besides Burton capable of capturing on celluloid a man's imagination (much less Bloom's imagination).
I love the flashbacks to young Edward Bloom, played by Ewen McGregor, and the over-the-top performance of the whole cast. Combine that with Burton's mastery of frame composition, Elfman's wonderful score, and we have a movie that's a far cry from being real. It's silly--it's impossible--but it feels so right on the screen. This is a tall tale, and there is absolutely no reason to try to hide it. Cast and crew rightly embraces the material for what it is, bringing with them a certain charm that cannot be found in straight productions . . . . . . juxtaposed to a straight production aka reality, a reality that gives a different flavor in its setting and performances--a very different end of the emotional spectrum. Through this contrast, Daniel Wallace reveals from the opening scenes why the story is told the way it is, and why Bloom tells it the way he does. There are many aspects to narrative and storytelling  some subtle, some obvious  but all must be utilized to tell a good story in a way that's interesting. Bloom knows this, Wallace knows this, and so does Tim Burton.
And I'm out of things to say about this film  what can I say, though? It doesn't have what I would consider a plot (definitely *not* a complaint), instead it introduces characters and simply explorers them, thus proving in both novel and feature film form that it is not `what' is told, rather `how' it is told. Wallace and Burton know how to tell it. Because the beauty of Big Fish lay in the `how', this is a film that has to be experienced. I could tell you about it; however, Bloom, Wallace, and Burton have proven to be a far better a story teller than I could hope to be.