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Movies / On DVD / Big Fish
Big Fish

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Big Fish (2003)

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Reviews Counted:207

Fresh:158

Rotten:49

Average Rating:7.2/10

Consensus: A charming father-and-son tale filled with typical Tim Burton flourishes.

Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for a fight scene, some images of nudity and a suggestive reference

Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Dec 10, 2003 Limited

Box Office: $66,257,002

Synopsis: In Tim Burton's family film BIG FISH, a gifted storyteller named Edward Bloom (Albert Finney), who lives in a small town in Alabama, recounts tall tales of his wild worldly adventures. These are... In Tim Burton's family film BIG FISH, a gifted storyteller named Edward Bloom (Albert Finney), who lives in a small town in Alabama, recounts tall tales of his wild worldly adventures. These are shown in flashback with Ewan McGregor playing the young Bloom. Wonderful special effects and vibrant colors that pop off the screen make this Burton film a much sunnier experience than his macabre gems EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and BEETLEJUICE. Yet his signature quirky artistry is unmistakable, and the movie benefits from crisp production values and a loveable, bizarre cast of characters. Told through a series of vignettes, Bloom's stories involve a witch, a giant, a haunted forest, and yes, a big fish. A self-described small-town hero, Bloom explains how he left home at 18 determined to experience anything and everything life could dish out. He worked for the circus, took on daring assignments as a WWII soldier, and rambled across the country as a zany traveling salesman. Utterly unbelievable yet magical and delightful, Bloom's stories just don't translate to his son Will (Billy Crudup) who wants to know his dad's "true" life story. But little by little--through increasingly outlandish tales at which Will cannot resist smirking--the two begin to understand each other, and Bloom weaves his stories into their genealogical fabric. [More]

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Helena Bonham-Carter, Robert Guillaume, Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito, Marion Cotillard, Matthew McGrory, Loudon Wainwright

Director: Tim Burton

Director: Tim Burton
Screenwriter: John August
Producer: Richard D. Zanuck, Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks
Composer: Danny Elfman
Studio: Columbia Pictures

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Release:

Apr 27, 2004

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Reviews for Big Fish

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Burton, favoring form over content, flavor over fact, has been often criticized for not knowing how to bring his work to satisfactory resolution. But I'd call that a good thing. Blame it on his dad.

Full Review Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul | comment Comment
08/21/09
Rob Nelson
Rob Nelson
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

Burton invokes the imagination from his crowd and succeeds in making us gasp in wonder.

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

Never has going fishing or getting caught been such a treat.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

For all the story’s twists, there are no real surprises (the ending is obvious 10 minutes in), and Burton’s flourishes of self-satisfied frippery annoy as much as they amuse.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jim Lane
Jim Lane
Sacramento News & Review

Unfortunately, up until the end, the tall tales are far more interesting than reality.

Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
12/27/07
Joe Lozito
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound

I enjoyed Big Fish more than any film Burton has been involved with since maybe Nightmare Before Christmas.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
07/23/07
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
04/01/06
Empire Magazine

The film doesn't so much reject history as selectively rewrite it to its own reactionary, even offensive ends. This might perhaps be just about tolerable were the film funny, illuminating, insightful or moving. It is not.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

No review available.

comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

No review available.

comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

No review available.

comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

Plays to Burton's strengths as an auteur of fantasy colliding with reality.

Full Review Source: Bangor Daily News (Maine) | comment Comment
11/11/05
Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith
Bangor Daily News (Maine)

An ebullient tall tale about the magic of imagination and the power of myth.

Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
05/03/05
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness

No review available.

comment Comment
04/02/05
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons

Big Fish is, in the end, a small tale, but it's a beautifully told one.

Full Review Source: NYC Film Critic | comment Comment
03/05/05
Ethan Alter
Ethan Alter
NYC Film Critic

[Burton] celebrates the empty imaginings of the lost, because he assumes there is no real liberation, there is no glory awaiting us, except that which we invent for ourselves.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
01/15/05
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Christianity Today

Un film délicieux que l’on écoute avec légèreté et qui fait passer un bon moment grâce à son humour, sa féerie, mais aussi dans la façon dont il nous touche.

Full Review Source: Panorama | comment Comment
12/16/04
Louis-Jérôme Cloutier
Louis-Jérôme Cloutier
Panorama

Burton has crafted a sweet yet bizarre film seeming at times like 'The Twilight Zone' in Oz.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Kansan | comment Comment
10/30/04
Steve Crum
Steve Crum
Kansas City Kansan

...there's never been a less ambitious Tim Burton film

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
08/25/04
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A heartwarming, nostalgic story of tall tales and even taller dreams.

Full Review Source: Oregon Herald | comment Comment
08/13/04
Mark Sells
Mark Sells
Oregon Herald
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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