Big Fish is the story of an extraordinary man living an ordinary life. Edward Bloom has always considered himself as the big fish in a little pond, and he tells the stories of his life in manner which reflects this sentiment. The narrative of the story focuses on Edward’s story-telling and his son Will’s disbelief in the stories and adventures of his father’s life.
If you haven’t seen this movie, you should. I absolutely loved it. Just how much? Let me put it this way, I haven’t seen ROTK yet, but I went to see Big Fish instead.
The setting of the movie switches between the present, otherwise known as reality and the surreal settings of Edward’s stories, the land of make-believe where witches, giants, werewolves, and many other wonders await.
Tim Burton once again makes wonderful use of visual imagery and symbolism. There are so many levels and meanings to this movie, and so many ways to interpret the symbolism. And (hopefully) without ruining the movie for everyone, I think the ultimate theme behind the movie is that Edward does not tell stories because he is dissatisfied with his life, but because he is overjoyed by it and he feels his story-telling will make everyone love it as much as he has. He wants people to see that although his life may be considered ordinary by some, it was extraordinary to him and he uses his elaborate stories to convey this.
This movie is unpredictable, humorous, entertaining, and altogether delightful.
Sheesh, now I sound like a clip you’d see in a movie trailer during the commerical break of your favorite sit-com. =)
Oh yeah, I also saw Something’s Gotta Give, which gets 3.5 of 5 stars (Big Fish gets all 5, by the way). Cute movie, funny, a little too long, and very predictable in places.
Now I just have to find 4 hours (yes four hours, once you include previews, credits, and the cinema trivia) to see ROTK. I’m really excited about this movie and a little ashamed that I haven’t seen it already. I missed the final Matrix movie completely, but that can wait for DVD. Return of the King is a must see at the theater, just like all the Harry Potter movies.
I noticed that we have a copy of Road to Perdition on VHS at our house, and I just happen to have a TV and VCR in my room now. Late night movie anyone? (I also have a DVD player, but the TV is so old I have to run everything through the VCR and some DVDs have copy protection that makes them unwatchable when fed through the VCR, which really limits what I can watch in here, since the TV gets zero channels.)