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BIG FISH
by Peter Sobczynski

December 25th, 2003

1/2 (out of 4 stars)

FILM CREDITS: Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Danny DeVito. Directed by: Tim Burton. Produced by: Richard D Zanuck, Dan Jinks, Bruce Cohen. MPAA Rating: PG-13 for a fight scene, some images of nudity and a suggestive reference. Distributor: Columbia Pictures

The advance word on Tim Burton’s latest film, "Big Fish", is that it is his most mature effort to date-that he has finally demonstrated that he can make a satisfying film that relies more on fully developed characters and storylines and less on the wild visual flights of fancy and weirdo humor that he originally built his career on. Although such a mindset demonstrates the notoriously short memories of the entertainment press (either they forgot that his wonderful 1994 film "Ed Wood" already proved that or they decided that since it wasn’t a box-office success, it simply didn’t count), it fails to answer the important question: do we really want or need a fully mature Tim Burton in the first place? After all, there are any number of directors who can make thoughtful films about the human condition but there are very few with Burton’s keen visual style and quirky humor. Does the probable success of "Big Fish" (which has been touted for months as potential Oscar bait) mean that the Tim Burton who gave us such anarchistic gems as "Beetlejuice" and "Mars Attacks!" (which is still one of the funniest and most underrated films of the 1990’s) is going to go the way of Robert Zemeckis-another director who abandoned the zany absurdist attitude that he developed in such films as"Used Cars" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" after scoring an Oscar for "Forrest Gump" to make blander films like "Contact" or "Cast Away"?

"Big Fish" tells the story (well, stories) of one Edward Bloom (Albert Finney), an incorrigible teller of fabulous tales of his life, in which he crosses paths with bank robbers, enormous fish and a witch who showed him as a small child how he would die (an act which supposedly gave him the freedom to live his life to the fullest since he knew that his various adventures wouldn’t kill him). Unlike most of the fanciful characters in Burton’s filmography, Edward’s storytelling has made him a wildly popular man during his long life-even his long-suffering wife Sandra (Jessica Lange) can still fall under the spell of tales she has heard thousands of times. The only person who isn’t under Edward’s sway is his son, Will (Billy Crudup). Will thinks that his dad is full of hot air and left home years before in order to get away from his nonsense.

As the film opens, Will learns that Edward is dying and, with pregnant wife Josephine (Marion Cotillard), heads home to Alabama to be at his father’s side. Edward sees the return of his son as one more opportunity to trot out his bag of tales (after all, Josephine hasn’t heard them yet) but Will has a more important agenda. Since all he knows about his father are the exaggerated tales that he has told him (one is prefaced with the warning "It doesn’t always make sense and most of it never happened."), he wants his father to tell him the truth about his life before it is too late.

Of course, the tales are just as fanciful as usual. There is the one in which the young Edward (Ewan McGregor, an almost frighteningly good match for Finney), already a town hero for his various athletic exploits (a heroic jock in a Tim Burton movie), saves the town from a giant (Matthew McGrory) by befriending him. There is the one in which he encounters the strange paradise of Spectre, Alabama-a town so seemingly perfect that no one ever leaves. Most importantly, there is the one in which Edward falls in love at first sight with Sandra (Allison Lohman) and joins a circus led by a werewolf ringmaster (Danny DeVito) in order to learn her name. As these tales continue, Will is about to give up on ever getting to know the truth behind his father until he stumbles upon some evidence that suggests that there may be some facts behind the elaborate fictions after all.

After directing such impersonal projects as "Sleepy Hollow" and "Planet of the Apes", it is refreshing to see Tim Burton directing a project that he clearly has an emotional investment in again (Burton’s own father, whom he admits that he didn’t have the closest relationship with, died a couple of years ago and he recently became a father himself for the first time). Although based on the acclaimed novel by Daniel Wallace, there is a kinship between "Big Fish" and Burton’s more personal films such as "Edward Scissorhands" and "Ed Wood"-and not just the common first name for the lead characters. Here, as in those other films, Burton is clearly fascinated with his characters and the way that they use fantasy as an escape from an otherwise dreary world. The only difference is that for once, the lead oddball is anything but a social misfit-a case of the freak inheriting the Earth.

The only drawback to all of this is that once the basic idea of "Big Fish" is set up, it pretty much sticks to that path for the entire running time instead of diverging into stranger territories. Although the stories Edward tells are wildly inventive (one involves him parachuting into enemy lines during the Korean War and escaping through the help of a pair of conjoined-twin singers), the tale Burton tells isn’t-no prizes for guessing that father and son will fight, reconcile and finally bond just before Dad exhales his final breath. In the hands of another filmmaker, I might not have had a problem with such an approach but from Burton, one of the few directors capable of working outside the parameters of normal filmmaking, the conventional is a bit of a comedown.

This is not to suggest that "Big Fish" is a letdown in any way. The performances all around are quite impressive and even the underwritten parts (such as the adult Sandra) shine through thanks to adept casting. Not surprisingly, the film is visually extraordinary-even though Burton shot the film on location in Alabama with cinematographer Philippe Rousselot, the picture-perfect storybook locales are as striking as anything that he has put on film before. And while there are enough visual flourishes to satisfy fans of Burton’s previous work, the biggest payoffs are the emotional ones-the final sequence, in which Will is encouraged by his father to tell a story of his own, is the single most moving thing he has ever directed.

That said, I can only hope that the relatively naturalistic feel of "Big Fish" doesn’t mean that Tim Burton is going to abandon fantasy altogether (and the fact that his next film is supposed to be an adaptation of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is a good sign). One of the things that Will learns through the course of the film is that while Edward’s stories may be silly, inconsistent and wildly improbable, they are thrillingly alive in a way that transforms both the storyteller and the audience. As a filmmaker, Burton’s stories are much like Edward’s and at a time when filmmaking has increasingly devolved into a by-the-numbers blockbuster mentality, we need his weirdness now more than ever.

-- PETER SOBCZYNSKI

Copyright © 2003 Peter Sobczynski
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While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.