Of all the movies lent to me by my friend (6 in total, 5 of them watched), this was the film I most looked forward to seeing. Also on my Netflix queue somewhere, it was one of those movies I'd always intended to see but somehow didn't have the opportunity to enjoy, for reasons unbeknownst to me. It was advertised as a fantasy, which is right up my alley. It's directed by Tim Burton, who I generally love. And Ewan McGregor is in it, who I generally find very nice to look at. Are you detecting a pattern yet?
Edward Bloom (Albert Finney in later years, McGregor in younger) likes to tell tall tales to liven up the more mundane parts of his life, including growing up and meeting his wife (Jessica Lange in later years, Alison Lohman in younger). His son William (Billy Crudup, the voice of MasterCard) feels that Edward's many stories and his life as a traveling salesman have prevented him from truly getting to know his father. After a three year silence between father and son following one of Edward's most notable performances at William's wedding to his own wife (Marion Cotillard), William returns home, as Edward is dying of cancer. In an effort to reconcile, William presses Edward for truer details about his life, but Edward holds to his more fanciful stories. Much of the film is told in flashback, recounting young Edward's envisioned encounters with a giant named Carl (Matthew McGrory), a circus leader and werewolf (Danny DeVito) and his clown attorney (Deep Roy), and Siamese twins who share a leg, not to mention the old and large catfish he allegedly caught with his wedding ring as bait the day William was born.
I really liked this movie. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I did. I liked the spirit and the quirkiness and the message. I liked that Tim Burton could use his unique creativity to paint the many fantastic pictures in Edward's mind. I liked the idea of a man who is determined to live life through his imagination without losing total sight of what was important, particularly his family. I liked the story, based on a book, which, as surreal as it was, also made perfect sense.
I also found the performances of McGregor and Finney to be compelling. Both actors played the character with a wink and a smile but also with a sincerity that was completely charming. Albert was particularly mesmerizing as a man dying but not without a good fight; he suffers a stroke near the end of the film, and he was especially believable in its final scenes.
Tim Burton's panache for visual feasts served this picture well. The art direction and cinematography were fantastic. I particularly liked the constantly morphing lost village of Spectre, Alabama, and Jenny's (Helena Bonham Carter) shack turned idyllic swampy cottage turned broken shelter of a broken heart.
I have but two complaints about this movie, which are relatively minor in my eyes. First off, the viewer does not learn why William gets so angry about Edward telling the story of the big fish at his wedding until halfway through the movie. Only then do we learn that Edward became a traveling salesman, so not only was he prone to exaggerating the truth, but he was also never home, making the idea that William did not really know his father a believable one. At first, I merely felt that William overreacted a little, especially when considering his mother's attempts to downplay the event. You wouldn't think that piece of information would be so crucial, but without it at the beginning of the movie, I found it hard to be sympathetic with William, until Edward finished telling half his story, and the circumstances of William's childhood became more clear.
The only other complaint I have is that Billy Crudup's performance was a little enigmatic. I didn't fully connect with him, but that may be the flaws in the adapted screenplay. He was angry at first and sad in the end and, perhaps, confused in the middle, but if there was any more depth I was supposed to read from him as he probed the details of his father's life with Edward's various acquaintances, it was barely perceptible. It was also implied by an extraneous remark from Edward that William was some sort of writer or publisher, but that was never fully made clear by any detail or any other indication in the film.
Again, these are minor flaws, and Billy was believable enough. In my estimation, I think Big Fish gets an 8 for being a very good movie despite these minor flaws. I also think it passes the test. It was weird and wonderful, and I do love listening to and appreciating stories. It was also kind of inspiring, making the movie a big fish in its own way.
Was Big Fish Tim Burton's masterpiece, as is so often suggested? I think Sweeney Todd was better stylistically. Maybe I need to watch them both again to make a clear decision.