Last Monday me and Dave went to see 'Big Fish'. I've been wanting to see this movie since I first saw the preview last fall. I'm a huge fan of Tim Burton, and this movie really intrigued me. Burton works magic with fantasy, he did wonders with Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands was a masterpiece, and, well, I even liked Mars Attacks. Even though at the end of it I was like, 'Huh?' Burton has a beautiful, colorful imagination, and I wanted to see how he did with tall tales.

'Big Fish' is essentially a father and son story, with Albert Finney playing Edward Bloom, a man who had gone through life sharing with others the tall tales of his past. His son, Will, played by the dashing Billy Crudup, used to love to hear the stories, but as he got older and learned that the stories couldn't possibly be true, became distant from his father out of embarrassment.

But the time comes where Will must go back home again, and try to make amends with his father. He begs his father for the truth, that he never knew his father, couldn't find him through the lies that he had told his whole life. He felt that these fantastic stories were an escape for his father from his boring family and his dead end life.

But once again, his father re-hashes the stories that he had told over and over. But this time, Wil discovers that the line between the fantastic and reality in his father's stories isn't so black and white. And he learns that all along, he had known who his father was, he just needed to listen.

No one could have done this story better than Tim Burton. He presents Ed's tales beautifully, filling each scene with magic. This is probably his most mature work to date. He balances the magical world so well with the real world, and in this movie he really does well with portraying the emotions of his characters. They are more real than any of the characters he has had before this. I love to see the world through Tim Burton's eyes.

Ewan McGregor was excellent as the young Ed - handsome, charming and ready to take on the world with his ambition. Allison Lohman was radiant as the younger version of Ed's wife, played by Jessica Lange. And Lange was suberb with her quiet strength, watching the man she loves slowly fade away. There were a couple great supporting roles - Helena Bonham Carter in a dual role as the local witch and a woman in love with young Ed, Gary Buscemi as quirky as ever as a poet, and Danny Devito, showing you more of himself than you would ever want to see.

I really liked this movie. Though for parts of it, it was difficult for me to watch. It brought back a lot of moments that I went through around the time my mother died. Hospital scenes and so much more brought small waves of emotion to me. But I left feeling good, once again feeling the love of my mother that I felt after her passing. Like Ed Bloom, she left an impression on all that knew her, and no matter what I know and don't know about her life, I know that she loved me.

This gets three and a half stars from me!

Posted by Yano at January 7, 2004 11:28 PM

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