Review of Big Fish (2003) by Maineutral R — 28 Jul 2014

Tim Burton often comes with a strange pattern. Since the 2000's started, he makes a bad movie, then a good one, then a bad one, then a good one, and so forth. This came after his version of Planet of the Apes, and fits the pattern accurately, as Big Fish was his next film, and is a good one; not only that, but a charming and heart-warming one. Big Fish is that story that's bigger than life and goes to where no story has gone before. Well, it has, but this movie gives its own charm to it.

I'm a fan of visuals, and Tim Burton always offers some rich visuals in each of his movies. Big Fish has an imaginary-fantasy-ish visual style for Big Fish, which fits to the tone of the story. It's cheesy, but likeable. It's upbeat and hopeful, but has its dark moments too. It's not as "gothic" as Burton films get, but it doesn't need to be. This is a charming tale that requires colors and light, almost like a Disney film.

Big Fish starts as a Forrest Gump-ish kind of story, but makes its own identity as it goes, as it uses imaginary details included by the character Ed Bloom. For what I got, it's about glorifying stories to make them legends, and thus, to transcend time and be timeless. It's a good lesson for the imaginary people and for those that can tell good stories. For others, this can be just a charming film about a man whose life was abnormal, but made it interesting because of his fantasy additions, resulting in tales more than actual stories. It's still good in that way.

Big Fish is another one of the good Tim Burton films, which easily re-forms him as a good director that often misses as much as he hits the spot. He can still make good films, and this is one of them. Give it a chance if you got time, you won't regret it.