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When Edward Bloom becomes ill, his son, William, travels to be with him. Desperate to know the complicated man before it's too late, William sets out, trying to unravel fact from fiction.
Burton shows the rivalry between father and son but not the rancor, which seems to fit with the film's calm lyricism. But the father-son conflict is meant as the dramatic crux, and a forceful actor would have given it some much-needed bite.
Overall, the film feels like it issues from a place Burton doesn't inhabit.
August 07, 2004
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul
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.
Reliant more on powerful familial emotions than wacky splendor, "Big Fish" treads as close to our real world as Tim Burton ever could - a melancholy dissection of paternal distance and never truly knowing how many lives those we love can truly affect.
Delightful, sad father-son story for teens and up.
December 22, 2010
Time Out
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.