December 10, 2003
Adventurous yarn sunk by senseless, jumbled scenes
Big Fish is a sprawling big tale about a storyteller. Here are the wild and fantastic adventures of a man who knows how to spin a yarn. The film is also about the storyteller's strained relationship with his own son, but that part of it never quite counts.

Albert Finney is Edward Bloom, a blustery guy known for the wild and woolly tales he tells about his youth. Edward is old and sick right now, but as a young man (played by Ewan McGregor), he leaves his small town to find the wide world.

In the course of his travels he tames giants, calls on witches, visits magical towns, joins the circus, encounters a werewolf, fights with the armed forces, meets showbiz twins, buys a town, braves all manner of frightening things and meets and courts and marries the love of his life (played by Allison Lohman in their youth, and by Jessica Lange in the mature present -- as nifty a bit of casting as the Ewan McGregor/Albert Finney match).

In and around all the magical, pixilated and colourful adventures of Edward's youth is another story -- the present-day story of how his son (Billy Crudup) perceives Edward as a self-centred, silly old bore whose fabulous stories have been told once too often. This, alas, necessitates dragging the son's wife and infant into the narrative, but not for any purpose we could understand.

How Edward and his sulky son eventually reconcile is a slim thread that comes in handy to tie up the movie at the grand finale. The ending of Big Fish is rather touching, and as such could make you forget what's gone before. But what's gone before is a film quite unsure of itself, all busy and watchable when it's set in the past, but flat and unconvincing when it moves into present time. And never do the twain quite meet.

Big Fish is based on the novel by Daniel Wallace. The story celebrates the experiences of a larger-than-life character, but the conflict necessary to storytelling -- in this case, between father and son -- never makes sense.

It's as if the novel is too big and too rich to be squeezed into a two-hour movie; much feels rushed and shallow.

Big Fish has a strong cast that includes Helena Bonham Carter, Danny DeVito and Steve Buscemi. Visually, it's a charming movie, but for a film that celebrates storytelling it's a bit of a jumble. Sadly, this Big Fish is a flounder.

(This film is rated PG)