<*dv_2*> Most people will know either an elderly friend or a relative who, despite being a fountain of outlandish anecdotes and wild stories concerning naked women, angry lions or haunted pubs, now lives a pretty boring life pruning their marigolds, drinking tea and palpitating over the Antiques Roadshow.
<*dv_0*> One such person is Edward Bloom (Albert Finney), an ageing gasbag who has spends most of his middle age regaling the world about his wonderful adventures and boring his son Will (Billy Crudup) to death with his tall tales. Will has heard every story under the sun and now takes everything he says with a pinch of salt but when Dad is struck down with a serious illness he decides to try one last time to sift through the bullsh*t to get to know the real Edward Bloom.
The film is shot as series of flashbacks of young Bloom's (Ewan McGregor) journey as a small town boy who leaves to make it big in the great wide world interspersed with an ageing Bloom trying to reconcile his relationship with his family. Bloom's journey echoes that of Forest Gump with a little Lewis Caroll thrown in. One moment Bloom is parachuting into a Chinese Red Army talent show and next he is mucking out the elephants at a travelling circus. Such globe trotting would not be complete without a host of colourful charcters from witches to giants to conjoined twins. His story is a modern day Alice in Wonderland.
<*dv_1*> Tim Burton's hasn't lost his knack of engaging the audience in his own private universe. His vivid imagination creates a skewed reality that if not as dark as Sleepy Hollow or as freaky as a Nigtmare Before Christmas is still charmingly off-beat. You get the feeling that Burton may have had to tone down some of his ideas as there is a Hollywood sheen over the film which is missing from most of his other productions. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what it is but you get the feeling his vision has been sanitised somewhat. Like Die Hard with all the swearing taken out it leaves you wanting a little more filth. Ewan McGregor displays that likeable quality that has you warming to his character irrespective of whether is a drug addict or businessman and he is aided by a stellar supporting cast (Danny DeVito, Steve Buscemi, Helena Bonham-Carter) whose performances are hardly career defining but do the job adequately enough.
Big Fish is an enjoyable film despite veering down Schmaltz Alley towards the end. Burton's failing is labouring the "message" of Big Fish. There is a recurring theme of Bloom being the eponymous "big fish" in various sized ponds which is alluded to time and time again and bored me after a while. Perhaps it is my lack of intellect but i wasn't sure which cliche Burton was trying to emphasise. The power of story telling? That love conquers all? or that it is better to be big fish in a small pond? Answers on a postcard please.
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