Meh - No big deal

Rating: 3/10 (15 April 2006)

I've been putting off watching this movie for a couple years now. I was supposed to be an extra in Big Fish. One of my co-workers was an extra. He and his two children were supposed to be in the circus scene but I couldn't see them at all. He gave me plenty of pictures of him and the kids on the back set. He had a pic of the mechanical lion head and the giant guy hanging out at the food pavilion.
Like I said, I was supposed to be in the movie. It was filmed right up the road from my house. They turned a local school into a Big Fish headquarters. When I dropped off my application, I remember seeing a mini model of one of the houses in a swampy bayou. It was in a room I wasn't supposed to be in but everyone was at lunch. In the movie it was that cat lady's house that he fixed up for her.
And speaking of that quitclaim form she signed, why was it even laying on the table? They made it look like she suddenly decided to sign it, but it was already laying right on top of the table. I didn't buy it.
I might as well claim spoilers now. The end wasn't the same as the book. In the book he actually turned into a big fish. And all the tall tales he told were completely true. I don't know where they were going with this more "realistic" ending, but I wasn't impressed. The book wasn't all that good to begin with, and the movie was worse.
Big Fish was a far cry from being a modern Wizard of Oz. I liked his red Charger and it was cool seeing local landmarks in a movie. Other than that, I wasn't impressed. I'm glad I borrowed the DVD and didn't buy or rent it. And I'm very glad I didn't see it in the theater.