Rating: 
Summary: The Lives We Lived Or Did We
Review: We live three lives. The life we lived, the life we wished we lived and perhaps something in between. A son , Will Bloom (Billy Crudup),has become estranged from his father, Edward Bloom(Albert Finney),after he marries. He grew up believing his father's tall tales about his life but as he grows older he sees them as falsehoods. As the father is dying the son returns with his wife to help care for him and here the stories of our different lives begins.As the dying father tells his life the way he saw it (in younger days played by Ewan McGregor) to Will's wife the son decides to find out if there was any truth in those tall tales. In what is a basically a fairy tale set in the American South we see two very valid and equally fantastic lives of one Edward Bloom that may have both happened. Through it pass all types of fabulous characters from the local swamp witch to the girl of Edward's dreams. It is an at time delirious fanatasy that director Tim Burton carries of brillianty. The parallel tales are clearly presented until at one point you come to the realization that this movie must have two endings that will have to resolve into one. It does in a an ending both joyous and moving. A fine cast and a very well written script help Burton to clearly give us not just the life Edward Bloom wished he lived but quite possibly did live. A funny and often moving film that will not easily be forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: rarely found good movie
Review: imagination and fantasy are the two important elements that makes humanbeings differentiated from other living creatures. sitting down and watching this warm movie really made me feel fulfilled and deeply moved. what's reality and what's fake reality only you could distinguish and interpretate. again, a wonderful movie with no hollywood mega $$$$ boxoffice in mind when put into production.
Rating: 
Summary: A perspective from a Tim Burton Fan
Review: I am going to operate under the assumption that everyone reading this review knows the basic plotline and if you don't just read the synopsis above. I love Tim Burton films that are made in his realm. Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, and Nightmare Before Christmas are great examples of that. He's an expert at bringing fables to life and taking strange, exotic, and deeply flawed characters to the screen and presenting them in a way that allows a mass audience accept them. In fact Tim Burton celebrates these characters, and that enthusiasm is fantastic. Then there are the Tim Burton movies that are not as personal to him and seem to miss the enthusiasm and zeal that make his great movies great. Planet of the Apes is a great recent example of that type of film. Big Fish is a mixture of both types of Burton films. When Big Fish goes into fantasy mode the movie shines and is immensly enjoyable and interesting. The characters in this world are wild and full of life. When the movie reverts back to reality, the movie deflates and almost seems bored and tired. To be honest, I believe it is a reflection of the filmmaker. Tim Burton's energy is solely devoted to the fantasy of the film. Big Fish is a story worth visiting and Tim Burton fans will definately enjoy the fantasy portion of the film. However in comparing Big Fish to other Burton films I think it swims somewhere in the middle.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: This movie was the best movie of 2004, so far. It is so creative and the ideas are genius. This is the movie that answers what happens to Mr. Pink in Resivior Dogs. He ends up being a famous poet and stilll robs banks. ok kidding aside this movie was good and fun. this is an opinion and it just so happens that Tim Burton is one of my favorite directors. I mean look at his resume, Pee Wee Big Adventure, Edward Scissorhands, and Sleepy Hollow, not to mention making the best comic book movie ever, Batman, and the also awesome sequel, Batman Returns, that has jim varney(ernest) in it
Rating: 
Summary: My kids liked it too
Review: We found ourselves at the cineplex on vacation and "Big Fish " was the next movie playing, so we bought tickets! My children and we all thought the movie was "way" cool, but we are at a loss to explain why we think that. Perhaps because for once in recent films that blurred line between fantasy and reality ends up creating positive and optimistic sentiments versus so many films which seem to be using fantasy today to create darker versions of reality. The stories within the story are interesting too. A gentle giant, a spooky wood, a war, a sort of Brigadoon concept of a town (well, sort of!)... As with other reviewers here, I am having a hard time thinking of words to describe the movie.I can say that it should probably be watched as though you were in a movie theater, ie. a dark room with no distractions.In my opinion it is one of those movies you don't really want to put on "pause" either.
Rating:
Summary: Great Expectations in the bayou
Review: This movie is shot in retrospect with glowing performances by an ensemble of versatile actors directed in the most interesting way. The setting of the southern marsh land gives so much mystery to the plot. The colors of the images focus the mood. The questioning son of his father's ability to tell the truth is grey. His father's ability to see color and possiblity illuminates the screen with bright yellows or reds. That use of color fascinated me. The symbolism of the "big fish" tale is well threaded through the entire movie. I have to say - I admittedly cried through the final 1/4 of the movie. I won't give the ending away but the bittersweetness of the end is like the olive in a martini. See this and enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: grossly ascetic, self-indulgent
Review: Big Fish is a creative film. If anything it is fairy tale for adults, a romp in a decadent imagination. In that sense it was fun. But more than anything it left a taste of grossly ascetic self-indulgence in my mouth. The social satire bite that made a strange story powerful in Edward Scissorhands is gone. Instead we have to be content with a childrens book that tells us nothing substantive other than we should let our imaginations run free and value family (or something like that). Where is the depth?
Rating:
Summary: Big Fish is a Big Hit!
Review: A must see film! Big fish will make you laugh and cry at the same time. It discusses the importance of love, family, friends and life in general. This is story between a father and a son and their relationship through time. A love story that is unforgetable!Through Ewan's journy through life, he encounters so many obstacles and experiences. Although some of his stories may be a little over the top, it leaves you thinking "why not?" Life is all a perspective. Its they way you live it that counts. The actors are amazing and naturally, Ewan McGregor is fanominal.For all ages and genders, this movie will touch you in some way. Its exaggerated story put life in a perspective that is indescribable. This movie is very different from your everyday movies. This fantasy-like movie will leave you with a smile and warm fuzzy feeling all over.
Rating:
Summary: hey
Review: the stories were true he just added a little somethign to them,example the twins at his funeral, he jsut decided to say they were siamese twins, and so on with other stories
Rating:
Summary: Is the fish real? Or does it even matter?
Review: I found it exceedingly hard to give this film a rating, even those 4 stars i decided for i'm not absolutely certain about, it could easily have been a 3-star decision or a a 5-star even. The reason for this is that "Big Fish" is a tricky proposition to make up your mind about. The fact that many reviewers either absolutely love it or found it tedious is attesting to that notion. While "Big Fish" is on the surface a film about a father in his dying days narrating the incredible and zany stories of his life and a son who tries to find out if these stories have any truth in them and simoultaneously learn who his father really was before he dies, there's quite many underlying and very significant questions and issues that this film deals with. To begin with, we as viewers never really find out with any certainty if these stories are indeed true, but instead we are "trained" through the course of the movie to think with father Gloom's mindset, that is:
"it doesn't really matter if they are true, it only matters that they make a good story". And then just when you think that's all there is, you realise that this film is like an onion really as another layer reveals itself to you:
"but isn't reality a matter of total subjectivity, and that what one person perceives as real the next person might think of as complete nonsense"? And yet who's to say what the answers "really" are? Big Fish walks , in my opinion, a very tight rope, and having to maintain a very precarious balance it does incredibly well. After the disaster of the "Planet of the Apes", Burton comes up in a domain where he does best: one between dream and reality where the borders are not only blurry but there might not be borders alltogether. It's all very "fortean" in concept, but Burton has proven in other films in his past that he can deal with this domain quite succesfully. Aside of the premise of the film (which again, will be perceived by a lot of viewers differently) this is a cinematic masterpiece as Burton brings to life the old school of grand-moviemaking to life. Alone the stunning depictions of the stories of father Gloom are cinema at its dreamy bestand this complimented by a cast headed by McGregor who ultimately finds a vehicle for the performance of his life make up for a not easy to forget film. The rest of the cast is up to par as well. Father Gloom played by Finney is a wonderful zesty character, as well as his wife played by a graciously aging J.Lange. De Vito and Buscemi, even in second leads, remind us easily why they belong to that league of premier actors. Sure enough, were this film to be taken literally, there are quite some plot holes, to name one example, why would a woman be so terribly in love with someone who was basically never there? But, this is exactly the trick here. Big Fish should not be judged on that merit. Burton himself has inserted not one, but many hints inside the dialogues of the film in that direction. Do see it. I'm not claiming it will change your life, but it will provide a lot of food for thought if you find a way to allow it to.
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