Big Fish

Rating:
Summary: Not a big fish fan
Review: I don't have any words of wisdom as to why I didn't like this movie. I just couldn't get "into" the characters, or the movie itself. It was really slow moving. Half way through it I turned it off. I was really disapointed because I had heard it was really good, but to me it was a waste of money.

Rating:
Summary: THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY...
Review: This is, indeed, a magical, mystical movie about fathers and sons, which is based upon the book "Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions" by Daniel Wallace. The book is a perfect vehicle for Director Tim Burton's signature melange of reality and fantasy. The story is that of a father and his son, their estrangement, and their eventual reconciliation. It is a beautifully realized film that will bring tears to one's eyes.

The father in question is Ed Bloom (Albert Finney) who loves to tell, at least it seems so to his son, Will (Billy Crudup), tall tales about his past. The son becomes estranged from his father on his wedding day, when his father tells one tall tale too many for Will's tastes. For the next several years, Will communicates only with his mother, Sandra (Jessica Lange).

When his father becomes seriously ill, however, Will and his wife rush to his side. Father and son take final stock of each other, and the seemingly tall tales continue. As his father gets progressively worse, Will, feeling that he really does not know his father, embarks on a journey to discover for himself, once and for all, the man his father really is. What he discovers is that his father was not so off the mark with his stories, and he finally begins to appreciate who his father really is and the impact that he has had on others. It allows Will to be able to say goodbye to his father in a way that his father understands and to be at peace with the man whom he discovered his father to be .

The film takes the viewer on a ride through some of Ed Bloom's tall tales, in a series of vignettes, where the viewer sees a young Ed Bloom (Ewan McGregor) living an almost fantastical life. We see him meet the love of his life, Sandra, as a young girl (Alison Lohman). We see him as a circus worker, a soldier, a traveling salesman, and even a bank robber. We see some of the people that cross section his life: a giant, a diminutive ringmaster, a witch, singing Siamese twins, and a bank robber. Ed even comes across a perfectly heavenly town full of wonderful, happy people.

This is simply a marvelous film with fantastical elements reminiscent of "Forrest Gump" and "The Princess Bride". Wonderful performances are given by veteran actors Albert Finney and Jessica Lange. Look for the very touching bath tub scene, where, fully clothed, the love between Ed and Sandra is palpable. Albert Finney, in the role of the senior Ed Bloom, is exceptional as a raconteur of the first order. Ewan McGregor is remarkable as the charismatic, younger Ed Bloom, infusing the role with a joie de vivre that is as infectious as it is engaging.

Jessica Lange is terrific as the senior Sandra Bloom, grounding her relationship with her husband with a steadfastedness born of years of mutual love and respect. Alison Lohman is simply lovely as the younger Sandra, imbuing her character with a beautiful sense of innocence and longing. It is interesting that both Alison Lohman and Ewan McGregor strongly resemble their more senior co-stars.

Billy Crudup is excellent as the angry Will Bloom, the son who needs to reconcile his image of his father with the man his father actually is. Robert Guillaume is masterful in the small role of the senior Dr. Bennett. The rest of the stellar cast is superlative, though Danny DeVito's southern accent needed a bit more work. The direction, however, is deft, and the cinematography is brilliant. This is an absolutely exceptional film. I really enjoyed it immensely, even though I initially viewed this film most reluctantly, and only after much persuasion by my son. I am certainly glad that I did. This film has made me a fan of Tim Burton. It is filmmaking at its best. Bravo!

Rating:
Summary: Wizard of...my generation?
Review: i loved this movie, i am 19 yrs old and i would say that it is my generations Wizard of Oz. i have seen this movie 3 times and it never gets old. i recommend watching this movie, but only if you have an imagination.

Rating:
Summary: Deliciuos movie
Review: I am no movie experte. I just can tell you I liked this movie, a lot. It is a sweet fantasy tale of love and of a son having the chance to reconcile with his father before he dies. My daughter (11) also loved it.

Rating:
Summary: Big Success
Review: I can certainly see why one would not like this film. Its sentimentality is far beyond many people's tastes, and the film's moral is not particularly original. But then, nowadays, what is?

The film also follows Tim Burton's pattern of strangeness and anachronism, which is sure to turn away some audience members.

Burton, though, is blessed with the ability to manipulate an audience's emotions with ridiculous fantasies and absurd plot twists.

The one qualm I had with the film is its underutilization of its female characters. Jessica Lange is certainly among the greatest living actresses, and Alison Lohman is a truly talented young performer. I was also surprised with Helena Bonham Carter (who can forget "Frankenstein"?), who actually delivers this time, her performance reminiscent of her former Woody Allen days. Sadly, though, we didn't get to see enough of any of these fine female performers.

Still, the male leads were good. I was surprised by Billy Crudup, and Ewan McGregor has certainly worked on his dialect since "Velvet Goldmine" and "Down With Love." And Albert Finney, a far cry from his Daddy Warbucks, is as wonderful as ever.

Rating:
Summary: Forced, forced, forced
Review: This movie is forced...the dialogue is forced...the images are forced...the cuteness is forced...

I like the point that the movie seemed to make: listen to loved ones and their (annoying) stories because when they're gone they live on in our memories and through those stories. However, the manner and course that this movie took to make this point wore me out.

My mother-in-law had heard many good things about this flick and grabbed it for us to watch as a family. No problem. When the movie opened, and I saw Tim Burton's name flash on the screen, I thought, "Uh, oh. It's going to be weird." Then I realized the Ewan McGregor was in it, and I thought, "Uh, oh. This could be painfully cheesy." Big Fish was on both counts.

I understand that part of the charm of the movie was to be the intricate web of details and colorful language of the father's stories...but...they just didn't seem "real". Yes, I know that there was supposed to be a blending of the real and unreal...but the stories felt more like someone was trying to be cute and artsy and clever with language instead of the down-home, fanciful, and folksy character of the father. I couldn't by the "way" the stories were told.

This movie also lacked continuity...which was supposed to have been provided by the stories. What does a car submerged in a river with a naked lady swimming by (whom I'm guess was the oft-referred-to Big Fish)...when the car then turns up in a tree after the storm the next morning...have to do with the rest of the movie? Maybe I'm just a simpleton, but I didn't get the symbolism...

The most redeeming part of the movie is the very end, when the sons tells the story of how the father dies, weaving in all of the other stories of his life...but it wasn't worth sitting through all the rest of the forced scenes and subplots and one dimensional characters to get there.

Instead of wasting over 2 hours watching this flick, sit down with your parents or grandparents and listen to their stories. Don't let the stories of their youth be a big fish that gets away when they're gone.

Rating:
Summary: Big Winner.
Review: Wow. Just wow. I have not seen a better movie in almost three years.

Having read the book, I realize that screenwriter John August has incredible talent. August took Daniel Wallace's great story and elaborated it immensely. To understand the amount of work August did on the story you must read the book and watch the movie. It is unbelievable how well this was written for the screen. Amazing how such a great movie can come from the same writer as some of the Charlie's Angels movies.

Tim Burton does an amazing job directing. This movie is his second Edward Scissorhands. Both movies are amazing, and largely due to Tim Burton's directing.

There are no complaints on actors or actresses, and just the same there are no outstanding actors/acresses in the movie. All come together to produce an amazing film.

This is a must see.

Rating:
Summary: Tim Burton's Masterpiece, Invertive and Enjoyable.
Review: When someone mentions Tim Burton, "Batman", "Nightmare Before Christmas," and "Edward Scissorhands" usually pop into anyone's head. But "Big Fish" is not like that. "Big Fish" is a creative story about a father and son who have broken apart after three years, and only the father's (played brilliantly by Alber Finney) failing life bring them together. But through his father's stories, the son eventually comes to understand who his father really is, and who he always has been. Ewan McGreggor playes the father in his younger years brilliantly. This is a story about a father and son and the strength of their bonds no matte what happens.
This is truly Tim Burton's masterpiece. It still retains some of the darkness one would expect with one of his other films, but it is a film that captures the stories of people's lives, no matter how exaggerated they may be.

Rating:
Summary: A visually stunning movie with some good things to say
Review: While some find this movie strange, I found it quite touching. Yes, it is about fathers and sons and families and the way they hold things together with stories of various kinds. And yes, each of us has more in our lives than even those closest to us really know as they have more than we can ever know.

Is it a great movie? I don't think so. However, I think it is a very good movie. It never does come down on the hard edge of what all of this really means in each of our lives. The movie seems to think it is enough to wrestle a bit with the way lies, poetry and truth fit together. Well, that really isn't enough for a great work of art. I did enjoy the poetry of it all and visually the movie is breathtaking. But in a way it is cold in the way a post card is colder and more impersonal than your own snapshot even though it is many times more beautiful than what you were able to produce.

We really don't get into these people terribly deeply except in one extraordinary scene where Ed and Sandra Bloom (Albert Finney and Jessica Lange) are in the bathtub in their clothes. It is an amazingly truthful and achingly touching scene with barely a word being said about what is being communicated between them.

Ewan McGregor does a fine job as the young Ed Bloom and Billy Crudup's portrayal of the son, Will Bloom, learning that reality isn't quite as cut and dried as he had always thought. It was wonderful to see Robert Guillaume again. He does a fine job as the family doctor and has an important scene teaching Will Bloom a bit about the difference between facts and truth.

There are many other fine performances and I don't want to come across as being down on the movie. I liked it a lot. I just think there was one more level the director could have taken the movie to make the movie important instead of just touching and at times quite funny. But by all means, see it.

Rating:
Summary: Touching and imaginative...
Review: I'd recommend this to those that love a good story with a bit of tall tale fantasy in them. It's a beautiful, colorful movie of tall tales told by a father to his angry son.

I personally found the son's character a bit annoying because of the anger and attitude he constantly gives to his dying father, but if you put your focus away from him, you get drawn into the fathers tales of his life before his time comes.

Truly touching. Watch it with your loved ones.