“Big Fish” (Columbia Pictures)
Tim Burton’s whimsical film “Big Fish” was a fish out of water this past holiday season. Now it is finally reaching all theaters and it still is a mess of a movie that combines make believe with real life estrangement. These two worlds never mesh in the movie and leave the viewer wondering what the heck it is all about.
Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) is the focus of the film. On his deathbed he is visited by his son Will (Billy Crudup). Will wants to know who his father really is. All of his life he has heard his Dad tell tall tales which were so exaggerated they had to be lies. As the two men talk the movie flashes back to show some of these stories.
Ewan McGregor plays Edward at an earlier age and you see him make some wild travels. He meets the love of his life who is a girl named Sandra (Alison Lohman) and also gets to know a witch (Helena Bonham Carter). All of these adventures are fanciful occurrences and they are all filmed with breathtaking beauty.
The problem is that none of these stories ring true and their fancifulness is irritating. The relationships that are explored never touch the heart or the mind. Much has been made of the heart to heart talks Edward and Will have but on screen they seem shallow and non-relatable. There is much to be made of the conflicts between fathers and sons but this movie doesn’t touch a valid chord in any of these scenes.
Finney is fine as the older Bloom. He has the right amount of bluster and irascible humor. Opposite him, Jessica Lange is nurturing and warm as the grown up Sandra. But McGregor is without charm as the young Edward and Lohman has so little screen time that she never makes an impact.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity, brief nudity and mild violence.
Tim Burton has tried to fashion a distinct film about the conflicts that arise between fathers and sons. He has let loose his imagination as he brings the tall tales of Bloom to life. Still the movie lacks heart and soul. It comes off as a whopper of a story that faintly amuses but never fascinates.
I scored “Big Fish” a scaly 4 out of 10.
