Heart-warming tale

Rating: 9/10 (29 April 2004)

I bought Big Fish sight unseen because of the trailers I saw on it and because I am a big fan of Tim Burton and Ewan McGregor. This film was delightful and was more of a mainstream drama than anything I have seen Tim Burton direct before. Granted, there were some mystical characters in the film, but overall it was very much a well done story about a grown man who desperately wants to find out who the man who is his father really is. His father played by Albert Finney as an old man and Ewan McGregor as a young man tendency to stretch the truth a bit about events that occurred in his life. The son played by Billy Crudup appears resentful and embarassed of his father because his father won't answer a question with a straight answer. The whole film is a combination of flashback and current events documenting the life of a truly remarkable man, whether the fathers stories make him more interesting or not, the man himself is remarkable simply in his ability to spin yars like he can. The movie has a rather undramatic ending but it does leave the viewer with closure as the son finally understands who his dad is, even if he was reluctant to believe the story at first. Tim Burton does a very good job in guiding this film from start to finish. It is comical at times, heartfelt at others, but at no time does the story seem so completely out in left field to be unbelievable. I was leery of taking my children 11 & 6 to see this film as from the trailers, it appeared to be somewhat scary, however after seeing it, I feel I would be comfortable in sharing it with children.