Magic

Rating: 10/10 (13 August 2004)

At first, I was hesitant. I wasn't quite sure what to make of the previews. I knew time transition was involved and I'm not a huge fan of that.
But let me tell you this: I was enthralled.
The film was beautiful. The motions and scene shifts, the colors, the vibrancy, created a magical sort of feeling. Billy Crudup, handsome as ever, seemed perfectly made for the role of pissed-off son. His wife Josephine, seemed a little one-dimensional in the beginning, but by ten minutes into the movie I was in love with her, too.
*SPOILERS HEREIN.*
Albert Finny's Edward Bloom was spectacular. His portrayal of a dying, pouchy old man, coming to the end of a life, was so accurate I felt myself wishing for a different ending. And Jessica Lange, as his beautiful wife Sandra, practically stole every scene she was in.
But the best part of this film wasn't the scenery, or the characters, although both were phenomenal. It was the plot, the mystery. One man's life--- born and raised in a small Alabama town, going through the war, meeting his wife in college, building a family together, working as a traveling salesman in the south--- a fairly mundane life, at face-value, became something transformed. He told the tales of his life with unbelievable characters. People he'd met throughout his travels became giants, conjoined twins, werewolves, witches, the entire amazing gamut. I was transfixed with the story, reading between the lines, trying to see the truth in the magic mythology. I was right there with Will Bloom, the son, as he tried to sift through the entrancing tales and see the truth.
When the reality was finally told, the characters revealed to be who they really were, I was blown away. Staring, wide-eyed, a smile on my face, I felt like I was coming to the end of a beautiful, circular mystery, filled with light and sound and magic and surreal images.
I thought his stories, the little anecdotes he told, were actually pretty entertaining. The one about the crow's dream telling him his father was going to die was hilarious. While definitely a lie, I found myself laughing.
This film is excellent. It's a little weird, if you aren't used to inexplicable things, but I loved it for that very reason.
At the end, I was disappointed to see the credits roll.
My recommendation: See it if you think you can appreciate strangeness and beauty together. (Helena Bonham Carter is magnificent, and Danny DeVito's great, too.)