Definitely Not a Masterpiece

Rating: Null/10 (3 January 2004)

I agree with one of the earlier reviews which pointed out that the reality sequences weren't balanced enough with the tall tale sequences. This makes the reality sequences fall short in comparison. Also, I didn't think the tall tales were that great either! The war sequence was especially confusing, since I couldn't figure out which war it was. I knew it had to be either Korea or Vietnam, but the music was not right for the period. Also, after the war he's driving a car from the 70's. Also, I thought the special effect of the "Siamese" Chinese twins was poorly done and looked fake, not to mention in poor taste, considering the sexual nature of the song they were singing. Back to the confusion thing, I'm thinking it was Vietnam, because if it was Korea, what happened to him in the 15 or 20 years between the two wars? Continuity-wise, this is a big problem for the movie.
Another problem is that it was adapted from a book. Burton probably wanted more of the fantasy than reality, so cut out some of the reality stuff that would have made the real (i.e. not tall tale) scenes work better. Someday I'll have to read the book to see if it works better than the movie.
Overall I think this movie comes down to what you value more: the truth or pleasant stories. I value the truth more, so I was disappointed in this movie. I think people who are heavily religious will love this movie (since what is religion but tall tales that people choose to believe are literally true?), and also die-hard Burton fans. I am a fan of Tim Burton, but I guess not a die-hard one.
Strangely enough, the character I liked the most was Billy Crudup's pregnant wife. She was sweet and charmed by his stories, even though she didn't believe they were true. I wish I could have been charmed by this movie, but it didn't quite cut it for me. About a 6 or 7 of 10.