You won't be disappointed!

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Movie Review: "Big Fish" (2003)Based on a 180-pages book by Daniel Wallace, published in 1998, screenwriter John August prepares every scene for director Tim Burton to shine in a time-shifting story-structure of the main character Ed Bloom's life-story, full of imaginative supporting characters, becoming creatures of fantasy as a giant, a wolf other circus folk, when director Burton can rely on Ewan McGregor's acting skills to fill in for Johnny Depp preferring to play "Captain Jack Sparrow" for Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films in the first installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" (2003).Legendary "Tom Jones" actor Albert Finney gives face to "Old Man" Ed Bloom in match-making scene on the dying bed with supporting son character Will Bloom, portrayed by Billy Crudup in beat-staking slightly-too frustrated manners, when nevertheless a genre mix of comedy, drama and event movie spectacle in capable hands with director Tim Burton delivers an holiday movie of season 2003/2004, which should have earned a wider audience attendance, but some how stays a secret high-end Hollywood movie recommendation for those, who dare to dream beyond what the plainly eye presents to them in daily life.With "Big Fish" there is always something to discover in ultra-rich cinematography as production design by Dennis Gassner, worth every "dime" of producer Richard D. Zanuck (1934-2012) orginazing major production values for Tim Burton, who nevertheless seems to miss "Johnny" as leading character Ed Bloom to make the ultimate "Academy-Award-pushing" efforts work, when long-term friend composer Danny Elfman galvanizes the picture with a beautiful emotional score, when further supports as the director's wife Helena Bonham Carter, Danny DeVito and scene-dominating actress Jessica Lange get all at least one scene in the spotlight to make "Big Fish" motion picture entertainment of the highest order. Copyright 2018 Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC

Big Fish posits a strong ideal: that a story can be full of immense truth even if it never literally happened. Burton's Forrest-Gump-esque personal epic is his sweetest film, full of whimsical silliness and fable-like hyperbole. As a whole, the film never quite sinks into me the way Finney's stories do with his audiences, but it's still a good parable about living in the shadow of a larger-than-life character.

"Big Fish" tells a story… about a man who tells stories. I think we can do better. It's about an ordinary man telling extraordinary stories, thus being extraordinary by proxy. His name is Edward Bloom, a man who spent most of his life inventing tales about how he met his wife, how he proposed her, how he built his house etc. In fact, all the "who", the "what" and the "why" that cover the chapters of his life seem to drain their inspiration from tall tales and fantasy. It gives a man a certain charm, he's like an old grandfather whose rambling is easily forgiven, but the film presents him from the standpoint of his son Will (Billy Crudup) and he doesn't exactly share this view.It's understandable because we've only met Edward (Albert Finney) for five minutes and he just told us a nice little story about a giant catfish he caught with his wedding ring, but the son heard it a thousands times, so much he can recite it, even tell it better than him. Will has had enough and can't stand the fact that his father would steal his thunder, the very day of his wedding, and to babble the same old story, over and over again. There starts a shift of three years, until he learns that Edward's at the verge of death, so he travels from France with his pregnant wife Josephine (Marion Cotillard), convinced that it's time to settle that old record. Will might not be likable but we kind of understand his troubles, it's not about the stories but what they hide. Maybe Will hates his father's stories like people hated Ed Wood's films but Tim Burton, wizard of imagery and at times, storytelling, can turn any lousy premise into a beautiful and emotional experience. Maybe that's what Edward meant by sugarcoating or reinventing the things of the past. I'll make a chronological leap: near the end of the movie, Will hears the real story about his birth, and it's certainly less colorful and memorable than the way Edward Sr. described. it had the merit to be the truth. Will obviously loves his father but blames him for his incapability to make a distinction between what is true and what is not. Burton doesn't allow us to make the distinction either because the point is elsewhere, the frustration of the son is duly noted, but the trick is to lead him to reconsider his personal frustrations.The movie, through regular flashbacks, enlightens us about the life and times of Edward Bloom, his younger self, played by Ewan McGregor. The story is obviously exaggerated, we don't really care because within the framework of the film, it's the only story we'll take for granted, especially since Will won't get many real "versions" apart from his birth. The film's premise is a real paradox, we know we don't follow Edward's story but his personal vision, from our perspective, it's "his" story because he's the storyteller.We're basically torn between the anger of the son who only wants to know what kind of a man his father was and our personal enjoyment that doesn't necessarily seek any truth, unless we would care for Will. Obviously, Roger Ebert cared enough for Will so he was genuinely annoyed by the father and his wrestling with the truth, but Ebert must have been in a wrong day, because the point of the film is obviously to make us relate to Edward and accept our liberty to look at our lives with the narrative we chose. It's Burton's vision as it's Edward's, there are times though where Burton gets carried away by his usual tropes, the colorful suburban small town like in "Edward Scissorhands", the many encounters on which the hero's journey depends, a gentle giant, a circus ringmaster, Siamese twins, a witch, all played by endearing actors like Danny De Vito, Steve Buscemi,and Helena Bonham Carter, but there is something that remains oddly consistent: these lies have a purpose, they represent the way a man looks at his life, he manipulate the facts because he knows these facts will die with him, while stories will contribute to his own myth.That's the key, that's the purpose of that ending where Will literally says "the hell with it", swallows his pride and 'take' his father to a last farewell ride. The emotionals raised at that moment has something that borrows from Spielberg's movies but it works because it finds the right touch, the son doesn't reinvent a story or make up an adventure from the scratch, he just takes his father to a last trip where he meets and says goodbye to all the people who populated his life and turns into that 'big fish" he always mentioned in that ring story. This is not the son 'understanding' his father, Edward will always be a mystery, but it's the son loving his father enough to at least be part of the last thing that defined him, and maybe understanding him a little.As a son, and also as a father, I could strongly emotionally relate to the film, because like I say sometimes, it's not about love and respect but… understanding. So, on the surface, "Big Fish" is a colorful and visually entertaining picaresque journey of a man who found his destiny the oddest way, who told stories about his life and made it his reason to be, but beneath the surface, it's a poignant father-and-son story where the outcome is two persons finally coming to terms. The film doesn't overplay the emotions and the visual delights and there's a simplicity in the story you want to fully embrace as if the right attitude was from the wives played by Jessica Lange and Cotillard, let the old fool have his dreams, and be fool enough to enjoy them. Isn't that what Cinema, or life, or everything about, suspension of disbelief.

Big Fish is a movie produced by Tim Burton, it ran in 12 December 2003 and stopped in 12 March 2004. The movie is adapted by Big Fish, which is written by Daniel Wallace. John August rewrote it into screenplay. The aim of the movie is to remind paternal love in people's hearts. I think the movie is good enough to be one of the most important movies in history.The director, Tim Burton, had a tough period in childhood without enough parents' love. He had to stay in a small house with little information from outside. The most interesting thing that he could do was drawing pictures and watching horror film. He used to work for The Walt Disney Company but tried about Disney style of movie. Then he went to Hollywood and built his own style of movie. Most of Tim's movies are Gothic style, most of them talk about zombie, vampire, witch and strange animals. Big Fish hardly uses Gothic element and creates a peaceful environment. Father and son's relationship is the superficial story of this movie. But Tim Burton talks about freedom, lies and life's attitude in deep level through chief actor's whole life, a fish-to-fish life.The Chief actor, Edward, was a salesman who always told amazing story to his little son: Will. One of the tales was that Edward caught a big fish in Will's birth. But Will was tired of father's story and left Edward after Will's marriage. Their following meeting was close to Edward's death. Because of many people's help, Will reminded the whole tale of his father. Edward was different since his birth. Because he knew his death, he did everything ideally without fear and hesitate. He found that the town was small and decided to go to the world outside. Edward met different kinds of people and things, one day he met Sandra and married with her. Then he was conscripted into the army. After his national service he became a salesman and left his home frequently. He went back to a town, Spectre, which he went before and decided to revive it. Back to real life, Edward was sent to hospital. Will went to the hospital and met a doctor, the doctor told Will the truth of Will' birth. The doctor asked Will whether a normal truth was better than an amazing story. Will understood his father and decided to finish Edward's life in a wonderful ending.The weakness of Big Fish is that the pace of the movie is a little slow, some of people might feel boring at the beginning of the movie.The structure of first three fourths of this movie a little like another movie, Forrest Gump, and talks about the amazing life of Edward. But the meaning behind of life is different from Forrest Gump. Edward known he won't die before his true death, so he could do everything in full of his ability. But Gump had some problem in his intelligence, so he could simplify many difficulties in his own way. Edward's real life is hard, but he is optimistic and translate his life into many good tales.The effect of Edward in will's life is very special. At Will's opinion in his childhood, Edward was a big hero and did plenty of adventure. But with time lapse, Will thought Edward was only a salesman with a life telling lies to others. During a dinner after Will's back to Edward's house, Edward found that will had already told everything to Will's wife, he couldn't attract her curiosity. Then Edward ate silently. This seemed Will's victory. But the heart of Edward was hurt deeply. Will's father reminds me another father: Guido. The effect of Guido to his son in La Vita è Bella is similar of Edward's, they both told lies to their son. But Guido succeed in protecting his son from Nazi's hurt, Edward failed to create a fairy tale world for Will. The life of Guido and Edward were tough, they used the best way to protect their son, telling lies. They were great and deserved the respect of audience. I think protecting parents' heart by believing their lies is the best way to repay their effort.The image of fish is important. At the beginning of this movie, a big fish dived and met a hook. At the ending, Edward became a big fish in Will's arm in Will's tale. After Will's child talked about Edward's life, a big fish came out of the water in a moonlit night. Fish maybe referred to freedom and Edward got freedom with the spread of those tales.Tim Burton became a father in 2003, the same year of Big Fish's ran. A son means a lot to a father, Edward warned will that the child is big trouble for parents in the movie. I believe that is the real feeling in Tim Burton' mind. The coincidence reminds me to another director, Hayao Miyazaki, and his movie: Porco Rosso. Hayao Miyazaki felt confused because of the collapse of the Soviet Union, and pressed a strong feeling about escape in Porco Rosso. But at the last part of the movie, the chief actor understood his responsibility and decided to protect lover in his own way. In real life, Hayao Miyazaki produced On Your Mark after Porco Rosso to express the willing of achieving dream. Then Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away came to people's life and changed many children's mind in many countries and regions. I think a series of movie means the life of director. With the experience of living with kids, Tim Burton might give us another surprise in the future.In a word, I will give 8.5 of 10 for Big Fish, it deserves to watch especially when you stay with your family, especially with your father.