It Leaps, Glistens, and Snaps

Rating: Null/10 (10 December 2003)

Some critics complain that the movie lacks Tim Burton's customary darkness while others kvetch it's so twisted, it undermines its own aspirations to the light. Mixed Reviews, shmixed reviews. Big Fish is so blatantly hyperbolic in its optimism, it has a sinister undercurrent, even as it sparkles before eyes fatigued by bloated studio monstrosities and too much arthouse pretension.
One esteemed writer for a powerful daily is unhappy that Albert Finney's/Ewan McGregor's compulsive storyteller may not really be such a nice man. Hello! Obviously, we're not sure about him, even as we're falling in love with the guy. The character is a descendant of Mark Twain's go-getting charmer in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court; he's too ruthlessly determined to be entirely trustworthy. And yet, like America itself, he knocks your socks off with his driving energy and star-spangled grin.
It goes without saying that Big Fish is beautifully designed and shot, and Burton, generous in a way that he's never been before, regales viewers with images they've never quite seen. On top of that, the picture is the best re-invention of the American Tall Tale (one of the wellsprings of American storytelling) since Pulp Fiction.