Review of Big Fish (2003) by Dawdlingpoet — 21 Nov 2021

This is a fantasy drama, covering themes including parental love and reconciliation. It starts off with narration that comes across as very matter-of-fact - that was one of the first things I noticed about it. The narration is done in a somewhat heavy Southern American accent, so if you struggle to understand Southern American dialects then this may put you off it. I found myself wondering how likely it would be for Ewan McGregor to be American - his American accent is reasonable but I suppose he just looks particularly British to my eyes, that I found it a bit of a strech to believe he could have been the character he plays (Edward Bloom).

I found the film to be relatively diverting, quite quirky in some of the plot twists, the imaginative nature of the sub-plots and there were some funny moments. I think it'd be fair to say that this film is quite charming, although more critical people who aren't keen on family friendly fantasy style films may think of this, alternatively, as quite cheesy and boring possibly, although the main word to come to my mind was silly rather than boring but silly in an eye-roll and walk away kind of a way. I definitely did enjoy watching it, so I'm not in the more negative camp (if you know what I mean). I felt the film was somehow quite immersive - there's a good use of musical score, along with a nice use of visual effects including characters being seen to grow substantially taller in a very short space of time, plus some mythical creatures which appear to be brought to life, presumably via CGI and also there are scenes which accentuate the colours present in a strong way, where grass appears to be almost neon green. That all adds to the fantastical sense of it. I'd say that this film does quite well at creating a sort of magical atmosphere - something which isn't always present in such family films. Some scenes feature quite soft lighting, making it look almost as if we're watching the film through a very thin film of smoke . It gives a kind of dreamy feel to it, I suppose.

I noticed when the film started that it was directed by Tim Burton, which surprised me, given that its a family film and thus doesn't have an element of horror or gothic presence. Having said that, I can certainly say that his quirks come across in the content of the film. His films do tend to be quite immersive in general, as is this film, if you can get over Ewan McGregor being a 'yank' with his southern drawl.

Cast wise, apart from Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney and Billy Crudup both appear, giving good, solid performances. Steve Buscemi also appears, as does Danny DeVito - the various characters are, of course, quite quirky and interesting, although some are more memorable than others, including Buscemi's character, entitled 'Norther Winslow' and DeVito's, 'Amos Calloway' a circus manager. Female actors include Jessica Lange, Alison Loman, Marian Cotillard and (of course, given its directed by Tim Burton) Helena Bonham Carter.

The music is quite dreamy, fairly upbeat, not thumping dance tracks but light pieces, some sounding quite Southern American (not south American, more sort of hillbilly-ish, though I honestly don't mean that in a derrogatory sense), think along the lines of banjos and acoustic guitars.

Content wise, this film contains a few mild obscenities, some potentially frightening scenes for particularly young viewers (such as one where a character realises that someone has turned in to a wolf which attempts to attack them), although no extreme, or graphic, detail is shown and next to no graphic injuries are depicted. There are one or two mild sex references, with mentions of affairs being made. This film is unlikely to greatly scare children over the age of about maybe 10 or so, I'd have thought. It carries a PG rating to reflect this.

The families depicted in this film seem quite Hollywood, in that the individual people seem to get along really well and there's definitely this feeling of idealism present, which may unnerve some people, thats ignoring the main character, who (obviously) has his strained relationship with his dad to contend with. I did feel that this film was trying to be quite sort of moralistic and im not sure im especially keen on family films that perhaps attempt to, in a sense, preach to kids as such but I'm not sure its meant (or, alternatively, ought) to be taken entirely seriously. I admit I don't tend to watch a great deal of family fantasy style films but something about this one did definitely appeal to me and I did enjoy watching it. Its very much quirky, imaginative and perhaps eccentric (what do you expect from Tim Burton?!). I can think of worse ways to while away a couple of hours (as is this films running time).

Yes I'd recommend this film as an entertaining family fantasy film for children of about 10 years plus. Its got good visual effects, memorable characters, a good musical score and I found it both quirky and charming.