Big Fish

Directed by Tim Burton
Screenplay by John August based on the novel by Daniel Wallace

A director’s job is to make a film believable to the audience.  No matter what universe or reality the story takes place in, it must make sense within that world.  Tim Burton has been successful in creating new worlds in his films.  Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure is not believable in the real world, but it makes sense within itself.  Same goes, for the most part, with Beetlejuice, Sleepy Hollow, and Mars Attacks.  He brilliantly imprinted a lasting impression of fantastic reality on moviegoers with Edward Scissorhands.  It can even be said that Planet of the Apes made some sense through its own filters and suspension of disbelief despite how tedious the result.  With his latest effort, Big Fish, he gives us an amazing and beautiful world which relentlessly falls flat thanks to the lack of any truly amazing and beautiful characters in which to inhabit it.

The main problem may lay in the purpose of the fantasy.  They are the result of tall-tale flashbacks told by Edward Bloom (Albert Finney in the present, Ewan McGregor in the past) to his son William (Billy Crudup).  He tells of saving a town from a giant, of time stopping when he first sees his future wife Sandra (Jessica Lange in the present, Alison Lohman in the past), of wrestling with trees, and of a circus ringleader who is also a werewolf (Danny DeVito).  None of these stories are believable to William or the audience because they are so preposterous.  There is nothing in the present time which can connect with the world which exists in Ed’s fables. 

Young Edward’s life is shown from his birth and subsequent successes in academics and sports.  He sees how he will die when he is young and that gives him a bold sureness of himself creating a cross between the indestructibility of The Matrix’s Neo and the everyman capabilities of Forrest Gump.  When it was revealed that Edward was drafted into military service, there is expectation that he will save a whole platoon by running them away from gunfire. 

Big Fish is proof that production design and fantastic imagery is just not enough to recommend a film.  It is a given that Burton’s films will look remarkable.  What this film lacks though is a Pee-Wee, a Beetlejuice, an Edward Scissorhands, an Ed Wood or Ichabod Crane.  There is nothing memorable about Edward Bloom aside from his wild imagination and/or life.  He is a normal guy who lacks the character and appearance of a Tim Burton creation.  It isn’t so much that he stands out among his surroundings more than they stand out and overshadow him so that attention is less likely to be paid toward what he’s up to.

I was reminded of another movie this year, Secondhand Lions, which I enjoyed because the characters were a lot of fun.  The tall-tales told by the wacky uncles were no more believable than they are in Big Fish but Michael Caine and Robert Duvall seemed to believe them at least, while Finney is much more a blow-hard and attempted entertainer.  He tells stories because it makes people like him.  Both films lose their wonder altogether in the end, however, when the truths are revealed. 

Big Fish is a big disappointment because it continues in the downfall of Tim Burton as a director.  It cannot compare to the truly awful Planet of the Apes but it is still something begging to be swept under the rug.

            Film Cynic Pet peeve Moment:  Big Fish utilizes what I call “reminder shots”.  This is what some films use in order to remind the audience of a character or moment in the film who they could have deduced with a little attentiveness and intelligence.  Even if the film had been better, the “reminder shots” angered me enough to have little confidence in the rest of the picture.

Timburt and Albert point back in time to greater careers once had.