Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney and Billy Cudrup.Directed By: Tim Burton
Release Date: December 2003
Trailer: [Via YouTube] [Via AllTrailers.net]
Usually I don't like to review a film until I've seen it at least twice. First impressions are great, but I've been known to loathe a film upon first viewing and adore it upon closer inspection. So having only seen Big Fish for the first time yesterday I'm almost certain to change my opinion of it at a later date, but for now, let me tell you all about its great achievements and terrible shortcomings.
Tim Burton. Yes, good old Tim Burton, the man with what's possibly the greatest run of movies of all time in the late '80s and early '90s, Beetlejuice (1988), Batman (1989), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Batman Returns (1992) and Ed Wood (1994). You may have realised that I've left out The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) on the technicality that he didn't direct it, but it's worth a mention because he did of course write it. The real shame here is that all this was followed by Mars Attacks, then a three year gap and what did we get for our wait...Sleepy Hollow. So let's dive right in and say Big Fish is Burton's best film since 1994, but it's certainly not perfect.
So, what's it about? Well, Will Bloom (Cudrup) throws a hissy fit at his father for always telling stories, skip forward a few years and dear old daddy Ed Bloom (Finney as the elder and McGregor as the younger) is on his death bed. And poor little Will feels like he doesn't know his father and so we're treated to Ed's life story through a series of outlandish tall tales, during which Will continues to cry his eyes out because he father won't ever just tell the truth. I always found it pretty obvious that the backbone of these stories is going to prove to be pretty much true, so it was always hard to sympathise with Will as a character.
There's where the film falters, Will does nothing but complain, but we don't really see any evidence of his fathers failings as a parent. What we are shown is Will as a child being regaled with his fathers stories...This is bad parenting...How exactly? Yes yes, Will didn't know his Dad's life story, how many of us really know that much about our parents outside of their capacity as parents anyway? It's much easier to connect with Ed, since it's his life we're seeing unfold, albeit in an embellished fashion. Not mention the fact that he's...Well...Dying.
Here we hit another snag though. The film is ultimately about this father son relationship, but the narrative is the quirky tales of Ed Blooms life. The trouble with all this quirk is that while it's enjoyable, it feels like quirk for quirks sake. Since the story never really seems to be heading anywhere in particular which in my experience is a pitfall with life stories on film, it's free to indulge itself in being outlandish at the expense of a tight narrative and a sense that we're heading to a satisfying conclusion. The ride is however still enjoyable if you take it as a series of short stories, in fact, the quirky little tales are the best thing about the movie and work well when you cast aside the main backbone of the story, which will do all it can to melt away during these portions anyway, until you're jarred back into reality to more of Will's crying.
I never found the film to be particularly spectacular visually aside from a few flashes of brilliance, but on the whole it's pleasing in that regard. The acting is a little...Expansive, but fitting for the tall tale portions. Finney's performance was the winner for me and the emotion I invested into this film, albeit little, was directed towards his character and situation.Danny Elfman is a staple of Tim Burton films and his Oscar nominated score will do more to illicit sympathy with Will than the characterisation. It's always a joy to hear Elfman's music in a film and Big Fish doesn't disappoint in that regard. Of course, these days I'm all too used to the swelling scores letting me know when I should be crying my eyes out so I make a point of noting it, and it happens in this film, just like in many others. It's not detrimental to the overall effect of the score however, I was looking for those moments and still managed to enjoy it.
The conclusion of the film is less than satisfying, Will will transition into crying about not knowing his father to crying about having known him all along, which was always the obvious character arc with him. Ed will finally succumb to death after having the heart-wrenching moment with his son, which will of course be accompanied by the swelling score.
And in a similar way, the conclusion to this review will be less than satisfying. You may have come under the impression that I didn't think much of this film, but that's not accurate. I did enjoy it, and will be watching it again in the future. It's colourful, imaginative, has some cameos worth catching and has a good score. The narrative outside of the tall tales lets it down, but doesn't make it a horrible film. So, not brilliant, and not bad. Let's say 'Good'. Told you it would be less than satisfying.
That is all. Cue swelling score.
