Big Fish (2004)
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 213
Fresh: 163 | Rotten: 50
A charming father-and-son tale filled with typical Tim Burton flourishes.
Average Rating: 6.3/10
Critic Reviews: 43
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 17
A charming father-and-son tale filled with typical Tim Burton flourishes.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 456,867
My Rating
Movie Info
Tim Burton directs the fantasy drama Big Fish, based on the book Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions by Southern writer/illustrator Daniel Wallace. Billy Crudup plays William Bloom, a young man who never really knew his dying father, Edward (Albert Finney) outside of the tall tales he told about growing up, making his way, and meeting his mother (played as a young woman by Alison Lohman and in older age by Jessica Lange). During Edward's last days, William and his wife Josephine (Marion
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Cast
-
Ewan McGregor
Ed Bloom (Young) -
Albert Finney
Edward Bloom (senior) -
Billy Crudup
William Bloom -
Jessica Lange
Sandra Bloom (Senior) -
Helena Bonham Carter
Jenny, Witch -
Alison Lohman
Sandra Bloom (Young) -
Robert Guillaume
Dr. Bennett (Senior) -
Marion Cotillard
Josephine -
Matthew McGrory
Karl the Giant -
David Denman
Don Price (Age 18-22) -
Missi Pyle
Mildred -
Loudon Wainwright III
Beamen -
Ada Tai
Ping -
Arlene Tai
Jing -
Steve Buscemi
Norther Winslow -
Danny DeVito
Amos Calloway -
Billy Redden
Banjo Man -
Deep Roy
Mr. Soggybottom -
-
Frank Hoyt Taylor
Sharecropper -
Charles McLawhorn
Mayor -
David Ramsey
Townsfolk -
Jayne Morgan
Townsfolk -
Joanne Pankow
Heavy Set Nurse -
Alan Rawlins
Pretty Man -
Bonnie Johnson
Teller Woman -
-
Darrell Vanterpool
Wilbur (Age 10) -
Daniel Wallace
Econ Professor -
Karla Droege
Ed's Mother -
Hailey Anne Nelson
Jenny (Age 8) -
Grayson Stone
Will Bloom (Age 6-8) -
Jake Brake
Old Zacky -
Bevin Kaye
River Woman -
Perry Walston
Ed Bloom (Age 10) -
Edward Aldag
Municipal Dump Owner -
Cathy Berry
Lobster Woman -
Jeff Campbell
Jump Leader -
Metz Duites
Ventriloquist -
John Fugate
Side Show Barker -
Trevor Gagnon
Will's Son -
Zachary Gardner
Zacky Price (Age 10) -
Zach Hanner
Cashier -
R. Keith Harris
Ed's Father -
Barry C. Harvard
Chicken Plant Owner -
Sallie Hedrick
Pretty Girl -
Russell Hodgkinson
Some Farmer -
Greg Hohn
Townsfolk -
Howard Houston Jr.
Piano Student -
Joseph Humphrey
Little Brave -
Savanna James
Little Girl -
Morgan Grace Jarrett
Will's Date -
George McArthur
Colossus -
James DeForest Parker
Shotgun Toter -
Jacob Radford
Kid -
Michael Garnet Stewart
Auctioneer -
Lawrence Sykkmon
Chinese Emcee -
Karlos Walkes
Dr. Bennett (Young) -
Vincent Ybiernas
Asian Officer -
Don Young
Shephard -
Miley Cyrus
Ruthie (Age 8) -
Brandon Carroll
Spectre -
John Lowell
Don Price (Age 12)
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Big Fish Trailer & Photos
All Critics (213) | Top Critics (43) | Fresh (174) | Rotten (51) | DVD (46)
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.
Top CriticOverall, the film feels like it issues from a place Burton doesn't inhabit.
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.
A compelling look at the relationships between fathers and sons, and the child coming to terms with the parent's mortality.
A long-winded indulgence in tear-and-a-smile whimsy.
A disappointingly dull thud of a fantasy.
Delightful, sad father-son story for teens and up.
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.
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.
Burton invokes the imagination from his crowd and succeeds in making us gasp in wonder.
Never has going fishing or getting caught been such a treat.
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.
Unfortunately, up until the end, the tall tales are far more interesting than reality.
I enjoyed Big Fish more than any film Burton has been involved with since maybe Nightmare Before Christmas.
For the first time since Ed Wood, Burton has transcended his hermetically-sealed world and connected with wider concerns.
A tale that's so enriching, so heartwarming, so funny, so touching and so breathtaking, you'll wonder why the king of wackiness didn't branch out sooner.
Big Fish is a stunning piece of work that is not only sincere and full of passion, but is based on a world that is normal...well, about as normal as you're going to get for a Tim Burton movie that is.
Think The Arabian Nights meets Grimm's Fairy Tales with just a touch of Forrest Gump and The Wizard of Oz tossed in for good measure.
Burton's masterfully rendered, deeply felt Big Fish is his most emotionally resonant work...
Plays to Burton's strengths as an auteur of fantasy colliding with reality.
The film's core is all heart, but surrounding the dramatic moments is a pure sense of humor that generated more genuine laughter than any comedy I've seen in recent years.
An ebullient tall tale about the magic of imagination and the power of myth.
Audience Reviews for Big Fish
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Ed Bloom (Young): It was that night I discovered that most things you consider evil or wicked are simply lonely, and lackin' in the social niceties.
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- Amos Calloway: You were a big fish in a small pond, but this here is the ocean and you're drownin'. Take my advice, go back to Puddleville; you'll be happy there.
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- Edward Bloom (senior): You are in for a surprise.
- William Bloom: Am I?.
- Edward Bloom (senior): Havin' a kid changes everything. There's burpin', the midnight feedin', and the changin'.
- William Bloom: You do any of that?
- Edward Bloom (senior): No. But I hear it's terrible. Then you spent years tryin' to corrupt and mislead this child, fill his head with nonsense, and still it turns out perfectly fine.
- William Bloom: You think I'm up for it?
- Edward Bloom (senior): You learned from the best.
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- Ed Bloom (Age 10): I was thinkin' about death and all. And about seein' how you're gonna die. I mean, on one hand, if dyin' was all you thought about, it could kinda screw you up. But it could kinda help you, couldn't it? Because you'd you know that everything else you can survive.
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- William Bloom: In tellin' the story of my father's life, it's impossible to separate fact from fiction, the man from the myth. The best I can do is tell it the way he told me. It doesn't always make sense and most of it never happened... but that's what kinda story this is.
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- Edward Bloom (senior): I've been nothin' but myself since the day I was born, and if you can't see that it's your fallin', not mine.
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Foreign Titles
- Der Zauber, der ein Leben zur Legende macht (DE)
"An Adventure As Big As Life Itself."
Big Fish is a very interesting movie. The plot jumps around and while we are being told the stories, we, like the child of the man in the stories, don't know what's true and what's false. Now, Big Fish isn't one of my favorites from Tim Burton, but it does show some expansion in his filmmaking. This movie is more real life than anything he's ever done. Sure there's some fantastical elements that remind us of other Burton films, but this one is so much more different than anything he's ever done.
Big Fish is the life story of a dying old man, Ed Bloom. He is a storyteller, that tells fantastical stories about his life, which seem to have little to do with reality. His son, Will, also is under the belief that the stories are made up. Either way we get to hear and see the stories the way Ed would have told them.
There's a lot of bizarreness going on here as you would suspect with any Burton film. There's a giant, a witch, a humongous fish, and a love story that stops time. Overall the plot elements add up to a pretty satisfactory story even if something seems to be missing from he overall outcome.
Big Fish is a film I more appreciate then enjoy. I never have fallen in love with it, but it always entertains and intrigues me. It's well worth a watch as it has solid direction from Burton and it boasts a strong and well-know cast.