Movie Review:

Big Fish

   It's very difficult to review a movie like Big Fish.  My favorite movies are ones where I have an emotional connection with the characters, which in turn draws me more into the story.  The snowballing of this effect ramps up my affection for the film.

    The problem with Big Fish is that it somehow manages to forge an emotional connection while at the same time not having much in the way of a story, an odd dichotomy that undercuts what would otherwise have probably been an intense affection for the film on my part.

    The relationship between Will Bloom (Billy Crudup) and his yarn-spinning father Edward (Albert Finney) is a strained one.  Will has always resented his father for telling stories about his life too implausible to have happened, while Edward insists that a little embellishment does not mean his entire life is a lie.   With Edward on his deathbed, Will returns from France with his pregnant wife to spend some time with his father - he wants to get the real stories out of Edward, but Edward isn't biting.

    The film works best in the present, which is why it's such a shame that so much of it is set in the past - and not just in the past, but in the past of Edward's stories, featuring his younger self (played by Ewan McGregor).  Director Tim Burton gets a chance to flex his visual muscles here, but the stories are not especially involving - we know where Edward ends up, and we know he's probably inventing most of the story out of whole cloth.

    The most important aspects of the film are its relationships, so the best story in the past is Edward's courtship of wife Sandra (Alison Lohman in the past and Jessica Lange in the present).  Still, it is only one of many, and the rest of them can be a bit tedious, if sometimes humorous (Steve Buscemi's turn as a poet-turned-bank-robber is fairly enjoyable).  There are not enough important relationships in the stories Edward tells, and their fictional qualities only hurt further.

    The film's last story, however, is affecting, as it combines Will's realization that his father didn't make up everything with learning the importance of stories himself, and at the same time showing that, after all the years, their relationship finally galvanized.  It is a credit to the relationships that they maintain the film long enough for the ending to still work.

    They still don't make up for the narrative - or somewhat lack thereof - nor do they help explain the film's point, which would be more straightforward if not for a scene near the end which seems to contradict its message.  The film certainly has other things going for it, though; nice performances (an especially winning one from McGregor) and Burton's visual style, far more candy-coated in this film than usual.

    Still, Big Fish could have been much more had it been able to build on the solid emotional foothold it gave itself.  Instead, it is only a moderately affecting diversion.  B-

Big Fish is a Columbia Pictures release.  Rated for a fight scene, some images of nudity and a suggestive reference.