Big Fish

It was not with much enthusiasm that I sat down to watch auteur Tim Burton's Big Fish despite its all-star cast. I like magical realism in literature, but Edward Scissorhands just bugged me. I couldn't get past the fantastic to care about the story. Not so with Big Fish. Will Bloom's (Billy Crudup) father, Edward Bloom (Albert Finney), is dying of cancer, and Will's mother (Jessica Lange) wants them to reconcile before it's too late. The son thinks he doesn't know his dad well enough because his dad always told big fish stories, weaving together the improbable with the fantastic. The son wants to know the true versions. When he confronts his dad, Edward replies, "I tell stories." "You tell amusing lies," Will rebukes. The movie toggles between the present and flashbacks from when Edward was young (Ewan McGregor), and Will begins to see that there is more truth in his dad's stories than he knew. But there's a truth and the truth, and rarely do the two meet. The ending is a bit treacle, but that's more the result of the fantastical ending than the storytelling. Also featuring Helena Bonham-Carter, Steve Buscemi and Danny DeVito.