Silver Screen Poetry

Rating: 10/10 (30 March 2006)

(This review may contain spoilers, i do not intend to ruin anything, but for your own sake watch the film first before reading this comment)
Big Fish is just one of those films which can be a dilemma to a critic, as there is so much to talk about and so little to criticize.
Tim Burton's film is an adaptation of a novel of the same name, and the same basic story. As a fan of the book i was a little worried about the concept of a silver screen version...i was very wrong.
The book was labeled as something which would never make its way into cinema simply because it wasn't written to suit a director. Whoever said this must have forgotten Tim Burton. He turned all of those mini-stories and mini-characters into something which watches like poetry (if you take my meaning).
Because that's what the Big Fish tale essentially is: poetry. I mean the story itself is about stories; a father's stories to his son. Tim Burton captured the deep love shared and closer-to-surface tension between father and son brilliantly, never falling once in his streamlined interpretation of the delicate relationship between grown father and growing son.
Not to mention, Danny Elfman's orchestrating is brilliant. He got himself an academy award nomination for his brilliance in Big Fish, and he well deserved it. The pieces that he has created for this film are just beautiful. They fully capture the emotion and sheer...poetry portrayed in the film. Danny Elfman is never always one for subtlety, however in this piece of work he has mastered the art with splendor. The soundtrack is just beautifully poetic, matching perfectly with the delight Tim Burton has created.
Also, Tim Burton has managed to create such a...fantastical world, and yet we take it seriously. Moving trees, werewolves, witches, giants, mermaids, larger-than-life characters...all of these are present in the film, and yet none of them seem ridiculous once shown through Burton's magical style.
Big Fish is a film of magic and splendor; of love and temporary loss; of the past and the present; of father and son.
Big Fish is poetry. However it is seen and heard, not read.
-Davismo