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Movies / On DVD / Big Fish
Big Fish

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Big Fish (2003)

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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

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Release:

Apr 27, 2004

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Reviews for Big Fish

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161 - 180 (sorted by date)
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Lacks credibility by pushing the delusory envelope.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
12/14/03
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

Quite charming.

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
12/13/03
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

The high-sheen adaptation of the novel by Daniel Wallace, however choppy, delivers a lovely payoff.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
12/12/03
Sheri Linden
Sheri Linden
Boxoffice Magazine

An original story and high production values, courtesy of one of cinema's most original directors and his team, make Tim Burton's Big Fish a good catch.

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
12/12/03
Leigh Johnson
Leigh Johnson
Hollywood.com

Burton has found a story written by someone else that meshes with his own imagination as well as anything he's ever written himself.

Full Review Source: Supercala.com | comment Comment
12/12/03
John Venable
John Venable
Supercala.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
12/12/03
Hollywood.com

The best family film since Whale Rider.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
12/11/03
Jon Popick
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy

A load of tripe that no attempt on my part could make sound half as pretentious and conceited as it really is.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
12/11/03
Rex Reed
Rex Reed
New York Observer
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Burton spices up the story with touches of his trademarked surrealism, but they're swamped by the trickiness and sentimentality of John August's screenplay, based on Daniel Wallace's novel.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment 2 Comments
12/11/03
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

Burton fancies the fantasy more than he does a meaningful story

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
12/11/03
David Levine
David Levine
Filmcritic.com

Proving that he is indeed the right man to remake Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, director Tim Burton envisions a world of pure imagination.

Full Review Source: FilmStew.com | comment Comment
12/10/03
Todd Gilchrist
Todd Gilchrist
FilmStew.com

The whole seems disjointed, incoherent and lacking in the startling originality of the other two Edwards (Scissorhands and Wood) who, half a career back, poured from Burton's distended outsider imagination.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
12/10/03
Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly

You'd think that Burton, whose movies can be so invigoratingly nasty or so hypnotically moody, would be able to pull off a gentle, mainstream crowd-pleaser without making it dull or preachy. But Big Fish is both.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
12/10/03
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Big Fish takes a while to get its bearings, but it gets better and better.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
12/10/03
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A deft blend of fantastic noodling and astute psychological drama.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
12/10/03
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

A change-up delivery from a director seeking relief from his artful image, the movie wants to catch our ears rather than our eyes, and it does so without completely reeling us in.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
12/10/03
Peter Howell
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Big Fish flounders largely because Burton leaves out the meaning of the story, which was about the seductive power of fiction. In offering no meaning besides pictures, Big Fish has no power at all.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
12/10/03
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Burton's best film since Edward Scissorhands.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
12/10/03
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The most curious thing about this magical-realist fable ... is how thin and soft it is, how unpersuasive and ultimately forgettable even its most strenuous inventions turn out to be.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment 1 Comment
12/10/03
A.O. Scott
A.O. Scott
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There are quirks aplenty in Big Fish, but spirited performances from a talented cast, led by a standout Finney as the slippery-fish raconteur, help domesticate the wall-to-wall weirdness.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
12/10/03
Megan Lehmann
Megan Lehmann
New York Post
 
 
161 - 180 (sorted by date)
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