Rating: 
Summary: "We are storytellers, both of us"
Review: When I watched the trailer for this movie I was left with mixed feelings, on one side I wanted to see it just because it was directed by Tim Burton, but on the other side, what I saw seemed too fantastic for my liking. Luckily, my wife was desperate to watch this film, so I was "forced" into watching it soon after the date of its release in DVD. I say luckily because the story is mesmerizing and the fantastic elements are fun and add a certain charisma to the film.Will (Billy Crudup) is tired of listening to his father tell stories over and over and being the center of attention in every gathering. When at Will's wedding, Edward (Albert Finney/Ewan Mc Gregor) repeats his annoying behavior by retelling the story for the nth time of how he caught a big fish, Will gets extremely angry and they get into a confrontation. This leads to three years of silence between father and son, which is only broken when Edward gets seriously ill and the doctors have no hope left for him. Will goes back with his parents' house and we get immersed into the different stories Edward told through the years, from a witch that showed him how he was going to die, to the time when he started growing extremely fast and had to spend three years in bed as a result. As the stories pile up, the son finally starts to understand who his father is and to appreciate that which has bothered him for so long. Tim Burton leads us through a labyrinth of myths and legends, with skillful storytelling and scenes that will make even the toughest of you feel emotional and maybe drop a tear or two. It is definitely I movie I recommend everyone to watch!
Rating: 
Summary: Hook, line and stinker
Review: Despite its interesting premise and moments of heartwarming charm, "Big Fish" is more of a movie minnow in terms of its ability to satisfy the audience's appetite for engaging characters, enticing plot or enlightening themes. Weirdly enough, despite the big names, the biggest problem with this movie is the casting, which ranges from ludicrous (canonical New Yorkers De Vito and Buscemi as alleged Southerners, doing the worst accents ever captured on film) to merely bland (a sleepwalking Crudup and his generically French wife, plus Jessica Lange as a wooden stage prop) to earnest but utterly inapt (McGregor in the lead role) to actively irritating (Finney in the other lead role). Bonham-Carter is probably the only cast member who didn't embarrass herself. The script is also soggy, but it could have worked if the actors had made us care about the characters in the slightest; but they didn't. Basically a disappointing film that wasn't worth sitting through for the sake of a moving and well-crafted ending.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Wonderful!
Review: Every once in a good while, the impact of a particular entertainment format is wholly contingent upon the emotional tapestry the viewer/listener brings to it. This is a classic example. In one of the most un-Burtoneque projects to come from Tim Burton, "Big Fish" is a mesmerizing fairy tale wonderfully reminicsent of the underrated "Edward Scissorhands" more than a decade ago. Depending upon where you are emotionally, this can be not only a satisfying viewing experience but an equally thought-provoking one that, chances are, will leave an indelible impression. This time around Tim Burton abandons his usually dark fare for the southern tall tale. He brilliantly brings to realization this regional cultural phenomenom with aplomb and moreover, with no condescendinsion whatsoever for a very important art form. As a southerner, I was quite please with the respect granted to an age-old southern tradition that shows us the consequences of not being able to see the forest for the trees. In a nutshell, the story follows a son's last attempts to discover who his father really is as the son insists that during his upbringing, his father has hidden his true self behind his tall tales. The son and the father have their final confrontation on the father's deathbed and it is here the son finally realizes the time he has wasted because of his "inability to see for looking." Albert Finney is simply wonderful. I have never seen him in a southern role and he was just wonderful as were the supporting cast. While the brooding son, Ewan McGregor was most effective, this was indeed Finney's moment and proved to be a fitting vehicle for his remarkable talents. This is a wonderful dissertaion on the intricate, intimate, and often complex father-son relationship. It is also a wonderful movie for families to share together. Visually, Burton put his stamp on it as he helped to realize Edward Bloom's (Finney) tall tales as the special effects were dazzling and wonderful in helping the audience to see very well the kind of man Edward Bloom was. While the end of the movie was somehwat melancholy, it was right on target and did not descend into maudlin sentimentality - it proved to be the natural order of events. I highly recommend this as you will enjoy viewing this one over and over again. I have never been more pleased with a DVD purchase than I have with this one and suspect already as I write this review that it is steadily becoming one of my all time favorites, not only for its entertainment value but more so because of the valuable insight it provided into my own situation.
Rating:
Summary: So...
Review: ...I guess I don't need to see anymore Tim Burton movies. Funny what a decade can do, huh? Stylistically, I feel like I'm done seeing him rummage through the same ol' bag of tricks, and storytelling-wise, I guess I now realize I was never really impressed. Granted, part of the problem this time isn't his fault. I thought the novel Big Fish was corny and obvious. And I find Ewan McGregor's performance to be way too.... Gumpish... for my tastes. But still, I unfortunately see Big Fish not only as a bad movie but a bad indicator of where Burton is headed as an artist.
Rating:
Summary: Big fish of a tale
Review: Edward Bloom is a storyteller. He has tall tales to tell to everyone who'll listen, and to some who won't want to. According to him, he has lived a big life, with big things, big events, big characters (literally!). And it seems everyone enjoys this tales...except for his own son, Will (Crudup). Will is mad at his father for never showing him the real person that he is, and as a result of this difference, they've spent more than three years without talking to each other. Until the day his father falls seriously ill and Will comes home in one last attempt to get to know his old man. Just as much as a story of Edward Bloom's grand persona, this is a tale about a father and a son finally seeing eye to eye. We get to meet Edward Bloom as a child, as a young man (played by McGregor) and as an old man (played by Finney) as he lives many of his adventures, from the time he met the town witch (Bonham-Carter), to the travels with Karl the giant and the meeting and wooing of this future wife Sandra (played as a young lady by Lohman and as an older woman by Lange). Throughout his life he meets amazing characters like Karl, the circus folk (including DeVito as the ringleader), the singing Chinese siamese twins, the hometown poet (Buscemi) and the people at the fabled town of Spectre. While this film deals with magical and unusual characters and situationes, this is not your average Tim Burton piece of work. Gone are the dark, moody and sometimes eerie and scary settings, replaced by warmth and fun, and a happier story than in his previous movies. The acting in the film is pretty good, especially Finney, McGregor and Crudup, but the best thing about this movie is its setting. Everything seems to be made out of some kind of magic, beautiful and shiny when things are going well, broken and dark when things go bad. If there is one thing that I could complain about, is that the film seemed a bit long. The pace was too slow in some places, but as a whole, I think that was important for the storytelling. In the end, Big fish is a lovely tale about a father and a son, and the many tall tales that separated them and then joyned them in the end...
Rating:
Summary: Made me think,
Review: "When will this be over?" Big Fish is a slow and boring snoozefest.... The movie celebrates some 1950's lily-white small southern town as a dreamy utopia. An old man named Edward's life is replayed in surreal, abstract flashbacks: Edward has probably done a few too many mushrooms. (And no, I will *not* take shrooms myself to grasp the story!) If Edward were my pops, I'd give him love and a coughdrop(!). Then I'd call up some old beatniks to interpret him and make the story more interesting. (When you tell a wacky story, you need some certified wack jobs around, not just a "dark genius" director!) Then maybe, MAYBE, I'd pass the story on to others.... But I reckon Edward ain't my pops, or yours. And I reckon... (violins, please, and pan out to wide shot of amber waves of grain)... that when you realize life is short, you enjoy what you got... and you should save precious time by letting this Big Fish get away.... (Get it? Big Fish... get away?). Goodnight all! Zzzzzzzz.
Rating:
Summary: Weird and Wonderful
Review: Wow! What a movie. We have come to expect the weird and wonderful from director Tim Burton, and with Big Fish he did not disappoint us. Perhaps, this film is the best Burton has done to date- it is a weird and wonderful tale about a Father and Son, life and death and alienation and reconciliation. It is a story of Edward Bloom, masterfully played by both Albert Finney (as the elderly Bloom) and Ewan McGregor (as the younger Bloom). You just never know where this movie is going, what is true or false. Blooms son, Will (played by Billy Crudup) resents the time that his father spent away from home on business, he sees his fathers tall tales as a barrier to intimacy between father and son. As an adult child Will comes home when he learns that he father is dying and attempts to discover the truth behind the tales, thinking that the truth will bring reconciliation and intimacy between father and son. He believes that his fathers absence and tall tales were a ruse to hid a hidden life, perhaps even another family. He cannot believe that a man who told such tales, and who was absent so much of the time could have loved his family the way he said he did. What he does discover is that sometimes the tale is better than the truth. His father lived a mundane life as a salesmen, but in the midst of everyday life, touched the lives of hundreds of people. I was touched by the love story that supported the plot between Bloom and his wife (played by Jessica Lange). It was good to see Lange act in an older plot. Nothing is sadder than watching a middle aged actor trying to play the part of a young person. One could sense the impending loss, as Bloom lay dying, that this marriage was coming to an end and each party was trying to come to grips with the inevitable conclusion of life- death. Yes, this movie deals with death, but it is a funny, engaging, touching, and both weird and wonderful. If you are looking for an evenings entertainment, this movie is for you.
Rating: 
Summary: It's good because it's different and makes you think
Review: There's not a lot I can add to what's already been said, and, at any rate, it's not as if anyone is going to read my review (being reviewer no. 227). Anyway, I just wanted to say that I liked the movie because it's not mainstream - it doesn't really fit into any genre. It was fun to watch the story unfold, not really knowing where it was going to take you. I pondered over the movie in the days after I saw it, trying to find "the message". In the end, I decided there wasn't one, but at least it caused me to think, and to consider my own relationship with my now-deceased father. If the movie accomplished nothing elese, that was enough. There aren't many movies that make you think after the end credits roll, but this one did (at least for me).
Rating:
Summary: Catch of the Day (or Year!!!)
Review: I think that some of the naysayers are trying to read too much into this movie. It is filled with bigger than life tall tales, none of which are believable, but that is the whole point. It is all about a son trying to see who his dying father really IS. It is a story of healing and reconciliation, NOT about conjoined twins or a ring-swallowing catfish. For several years, I have lived with the pain of non reconciling with my father before he died, and this movie brought me closure. For that, I am deeply grateful to Tim Burton.
Rating:
Summary: CATCH DU JOUR!
Review: A WONDEROUS Father/Son tale of miscommunication and ultimate communication similar in psych to "Mosquito Coast" - but seen through the brilliance of Tim Burton's magical eyes ... Fantasy weaves in and out of reality as the possibly expiring father relates his life to his still very confused son - soon to be a father himself. ALBERT FINNEY [so underrated - remember "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning"?] - superb as the father, as is the rest of the cast expecially Jessical Lange as the loving spouse, Helena Bonham Carter as the 'other' woman [never consumated, but ... thereby also hangs a tale] ... the witch? The Circusmaster {sometimes lycanthrope} Danny Devito, and his Fellini-like troupe, plus the adorable Giant! Many sweet surprises on this jaunt - along the lines of an extended Twi-Light Zone perhaps .... but utterly charming. Great Art Direction and Costume design too!
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