RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Big Fish
Big Fish

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Big Fish (2003)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
77 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:203

Fresh:156

Rotten:47

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

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • Big Fish Trailer
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Apr 27, 2004

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Big Fish

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

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
N/R

Click to read the article

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

Click to read the article

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

Click to read the article

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

Click to read the article

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

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Empire Magazine
N/R

Click to read the article

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

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | 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

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
04/02/05
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons

Click to read the article

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)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 >> >|
all

Latest News for Big Fish

May 11, 2007: The Rock as Captain Marvel?
From the "strange but (possibly) true" department. Director Peter Segal looks like he'll be directing the "Shazam" movie ... and will he be casting Dwayne... More...

April 09, 2007: "Captain Marvel" Screenwriter Shakes Up the Fanboys -- Shazam!
Gotta give it up for screenwriter John August. Not only is he entirely forthcoming about his upcoming "Shazam!" (aka "Captain Marvel") adaptation, but he's... More...

October 19, 2006: Helena Bonham Carter Joins Tim Burton's New Project
It's a piece of casting news that'll please many, but shock no one: Helena Bonham Carter has been cast opposite Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's movie version of "Sweeney... More...

June 29, 2006: New Line Greenlights "The Golden Compass" -- for $150 Million
Fans of Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series have reason to rejoice this morning: New Line Cinema has given an official greenlight and production date to... More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
15% 15% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Total Recall

Total Recall

John Travolta's top reviewed movies

Disney Countdown

Disney Countdown

Look back on Disney's best animated movies!

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

What's Coming Out

What's Coming Out

Find movies for the holiday weekend!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
11
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
32
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
16
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
116
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
  • 6 Reasons 'Twilight' Is Doomed Source: The Wrap
64
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
176
  • Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes
130
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
76
  • Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers
75
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
58
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
37
  • Friday Harvest: New Moon, Avatar, and more!
32
  • WB offers DVD to Blu-ray Trade-In Program
24
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Angels & Demons, Funny People, and Superman
18
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
17
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
13
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
9
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
19
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
6
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
20
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Big Fish at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Big Fish at IGN
  • Big Fish at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox
Wes Anderson on Fox External Link

The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Animated Oscar?
Animated Oscar? External Link

Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.

TIME's Holiday Movie Preview
TIME's Holiday Movie Preview External Link

Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.

Scenic Routes
Scenic Routes External Link

The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.