A tall tale told too tall

Rating: 7/10 (7 May 2004)

Tim Burton's Big Fish, is basically a tall tale told by teller of tall tales. The segments of fiction were brilliant, but a movie which blends reality with outright fiction needs to keep the reality real. Otherwise the audience get lost.
So . . . Paris to the US flights happen during the daylight hours, and despite the best intentions of Mr. Burton, Alabama in the 30's 40's and 50's was segregated. Even in the fictional story that fact needs to be either addressed or explained lest the viewer start to wonder what is wrong.
The fact that Helen Bonham Carter played two characters was explained even when it wasn't purely necessary-there is no way that a listener would confuse the little girl grown up with the witch. We do of course, because we have seen both characters, but Billy Crudup's Will Bloom wouldn't realize that there was a problem he has never seen the witch.
All of this is too bad, for otherwise it is good story well told and the acting is fine all around. Ms. Lange looks too young to be the elder Bloom's wife of contemporary years, but who will begrudge her that?