Most of you guys are right on the money

Rating: Null/10 (26 January 2004)

What a weird movie experience this was. Not weird in a typically Tim Burton way, but weird regardless of who the director was. You have to look at this film two ways--as a movie, and then as a Tim Burton movie. It isn't exactly successful as the first, and it is radically different from previous efforts as the second. I can't exactly recommend it, but it was certainly interesting to see, and I look forward to some enjoyable heated discussions with people over the years about it.
The main problem is the pacing. It dragged terribly through the entire second act and most of the third. I mean, it lumbered, and I am not one who needs a lot of action or even dialogue to be riveted by a movie. He tried hard to weave a convincing narrative, but gets mired down in ideas that aren't fully developed and ultimately, the movie collapses on itself.
It also turned itself upside down trying to make a point that ultimately isn't made very convincingly, largely due to skeletal dialogue Billy Crudup's character has to mouth rather lamely. He wants to know the real guy his dad is...dad never told him the truth...he never talked with his dad...did it never occur to him to talk to his mother? Visit all the people his father told him about a thousand times? He finally goes to see one person when his dad is on his deathbed and I really saw no point to the entire encounter. Given that dad is a guy who never shut up and obviously worshipped his family, I found it hard to believe the whole "I-resent-you-Dad" shtick.
What I love about Tim Burton's work is the visual element. I say to people all the time that half the time, I just throw in a Burton DVD and hit the mute button, looking at his films like art instead of movies. I have never felt that he was a particularly engaging storyteller, feeling instead that his movies all relied so heavily on the visual that it was a lot like eating too much candy...afterwards, you're still hungry and kind of queasy. This movie suffers from a bit of the same problem. The visuals are more whimsical than we're used to, more naturalistic but the overall sense of imagination that makes me gasp from Burton normally isn't present throughout. There are moments of inspiration--the popcorn, the daffodils--but overall, I get the impression that he is just trying too hard.
The performances are sublime, with especial kudos to Ewan MacGregor. This man is simply celestially talented. He lights up the screen like a supernova. Jessica Lange is wasted, and Alison Lohman is so eerily her spitting image that I think she must have been cloned. Albert Finney is terrific, Steve Buscemi and Danny DeVito seem to be having the time of their lives, and even the mostly wooden Billy Crudup acquits himself well at the end.