Something Smells Kinda Fishy!

Rating: 4/10 (14 June 2007)

Let me start by saying that Tim Burton will always be a great artistic director/production designer. His movies will always carry that weird, offbeat imagery which will please fans to no end. Unfortunately, he will always be at fault for choosing such weak scripts for his projects. John August's run-of-the-mill script for Big Fish leaves much to be desired because of the shallow storytelling and flimsy characterization. Most of the characters involved are either too flat, or too deliberately odd, for the viewer to relate to. Big Fish introduces us to Ed Bloom, a man who tells some unbelievably amazing stories. But these episodic stories didn't seem to have any point other than just to flaunt Burton's visual style and twisted imagination. I failed to see young and old Bloom as inspirational or even likable, rather he came off as annoying. Old Bloom droned on for hours, talking nonsense. Young Bloom was a self-centered dolt, who always got what he wanted. His son, Will, had all the reason to resent his father, but even he came off as a jerk at times. On the bright side, the movie delivers good results in the acting department, although McGregor's southern accent isn't quite convincing. All in all, an unsatisfactory effort.