Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

I’m generally a lukewarm Tim Burton fan. I enjoyed some of his earlier stuff that you normally think of when you think of Burton – Beetlejuice, Pee Wee, Edward Scissorhands, the first two Batman films (especially the second, with Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman)(give me a minute…) mmmeow. Anyway. It seemed like his more recent work, like Sleepy Hollow and Planet of the Apes, was lacking the emotion of his earlier films. They had bigger budgets, but less soul. I was wondering if he had just sold out to Hollywood or if he still had the capability of making a smaller, quieter film. He has.

I went into Big Fish blind, having only seen a brief commercial and avoiding other articles and reviews on it. I had no idea what to expect, and that was best. It packed an emotional wallop that I haven’t felt in years. Perhaps due to my own place in life, or perhaps because my son has turned me into such a sap; or maybe because between my student teaching and working full time I’m on the run 90 hours a week. In any case, I cried through about the last 20 minutes of the movie, and it took a good fifteen minutes afterward to pull myself together. What a woman I’ve become. My wife should have given me a good slap. Or spanking.

The plot follows the main character Ed Bloom through two parts of his life. “Now,” a dying old man, he’s played by Albert Finney. “Then,” a strapping young buck of a man, played by Ewan MacGregor. Ed’s grown son flies home with his wife in tow, trying to be supportive of his dying father. Will Bloom has always felt that he’s taken a back seat to his father’s extraordinary tall tales, and has come to resent his father for it. Dad was always upstaging birthdays, camping trips, and even his son’s wedding day to tell One More Story. Will’s wife and mother both want to help the two reconcile before it’s too late, but the task seems insurmountable. Through the kids’ stay with the older Blooms, Ed gets opportunity to tell some of his stories to Will’s wife.

We see the world through Ed’s eyes, as he grew up in a small Alabama town, then went out into the world to seek his fortune. On the way there are witches and giants and vanishing towns, bank robberies, werewolves, heroism and espionage…and one Big Fish.

It’s difficult to describe the frustration of the son with the father. Not only difficult because of the range of emotions involved, but difficult because I feel a measure of it in my own life. My Dad and I certainly aren’t estranged, but there’s a distance between us. I’ve come to accept it as a part of my life that I don’t always agree with him, and feel like he’ll never be satisfied with anything I’ve done. So what happens when it’s too late to make up all that lost time?

This is the question that Will struggles with in the film, and one that no other person can answer for him. Burton, who never had a reconciliation with his own estranged father, captures this beautifully in several scenes. Even though Ed desperately wants to be close to his son, he won’t compromise his life experience to meet him halfway. And I don’t think he should. But bridging the gap between father and son proves nearly impossible; when the moment comes, it’s one of those moments that trigger your own feelings. For me it wasn’t only thinking forward to my own father’s eventual death, but also thinking about when I’m the old man and Miles is seeking reconciliation. I was very moved by this movie, but it’s impossible for me to separate it from my own experiences.

If you’re in the mood for it, this is a remarkable film. I saw ads promoting it as “this generation’s Wizard of Oz,” but that’s not quite true. It’s imaginative, it’s mindbending, it’s funny, sad, visually interesting…but more than anything it’s good, and it’s emotional. If you have it in your heart to forgive someone who you feel has been wronging you for years—even if it’s someone you love—you should find the time to watch “Big Fish.”

Plus, naked Danny DeVito You can’t pass that up.


Recommended: Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older