An Instant Classic

Rating: Null/10 (8 December 2003)

There is something exhilarating about riding two trains and running 27 blocks down the street to see a movie. Living 8 or so miles outside New York City has its perks for one of my new jobs. Going to press screenings of yet to released blockbusters. It's just to bad I'm at the mercy of the New Jersey Transit rail system. With delayed trains and lots of snow covering the ground of course I had 10 minutes to get from Madison Square Garden to Union Square. No small feat if you ask me.
But as I settled down in my chair at the Regal Union Square, and as I sipped on the sweet nectar of the drink called COKE, a film unfolded. A film so good, it made my mad dash to the theater worth every minute and as I reminisce about the filmed triumph that is BIG FISH, I feel a sense of awe and wonder. Tim Burton has created a film better than EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and a film that is worthy of Oscar.
William Bloom (Billy Crudup, Waking The Dead) is mad at his father Edward Bloom (Albert Finney,Erin Brockovich). You see his dad loves to tell stories about his youth. Except none of them seem true. Stories of Giants named Karl (Matthew McGrory, Bubble Boy), Circus Freaks, wandering poets, Siamese Twins from Red China, bank robberies, a witch, and a really big fish. William longs to meet the real man behind all the stories. But when Edward is stricken with cancer, William comes face to face with the man, both the real one and the legend.
BIG FISH is the kind of movie where a new surprise is hiding around every corner. From babies being spit across the hospital floor to a classic car being submerged underwater. The frame is jammed with visions both colorful and humorous. I especially liked the witch whose one eye could tell you how you would die. What an eerie and yet oddly beautiful old woman she was.

I also loved the tender moment that Edward and his wife Sandy (Jessica Lange, Titus) had in the bathtub. It's a scene full of both raw emotion and sweet reflection. Here's a woman who's watching the man she loves die right in front of her face. Every moment counts, and every word and breath sacred.
Ewan MacGregor (Star Wars: Attack of the Cloans) does a fine job as young Edward the adventurous youth of all his older counterpoint fantastical stories. His performance strikes the right cords at the right moments, allowing the audience to take hold of a man who may be the fabrication or the true version of a man who's telling the story.
Tim Burton's directing is top notch. He's proven that he's a master of the visual image, and BIG FISH is the perfect film to allow people to sit up and take notice. He strikes the right cord between humor and tears, joyous circus's and scary forests. His deft eye even takes us behind enemy lines. In a scene that is both inspired and quirky all at the same time.
BIG FISH is also a film about heritage. What's more important in the scheme of things, how we lived or how people remember us? It's a little of both, and this film puts us right in the middle of it all. Watching a life unfold around us.
BIG FISH is the reason I love going to the movies. Sure sometimes you have to dig through the trash to find a gem and this is a gem of a motion picture. If you see one film at all this year BIG FISH is worth a trip, even a whirlwind 27-block sprint to your local theater.