Big Fish

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Big Fish

Big Fish

PG-13

Addiction Level Rating: 2.5 CCs

Edward Bloom (played in his younger years by Ewan McGregor and as an older man by Albert Finney) isn't an easy man to get to know but when everyone meets him they learn to love him. He has a knack for telling stories all the time. He entertains everyone who hears them, but they are told over and over again, and his son William (Billy Crudup) who has heard them too many times takes exception to them and leaves. He is the root of one of them which he knows is not true and frustration developes after his wedding ceremony so he takes his new wife and is gone for three years only staying in contact with his Mother. The father's stories involve his encounter with a witch who's glass eye shows a man's death, his exodus from his hometown with a giant, his return with beautiful Siamese twins, his job with a circus, meeting his wife, his son's birth and the many unsuccessful attempts to catch a big fish.

Because the stories from the past and present are interwoven it's hard to grasp the story in the beginning and then the complexity of the story makes you have to think. The movie shows the father's fantasy world flashing back to Edward's youth as he tells them but then when Edward is dying, William, who is now a journalist dealing in facts, is called back home by his Mother played well by Jessica Lange. He comes with his pregnant wife to try to resolve the differences between he and his father. The ending story which Edward has known since a youth and has kept secret all his life is left for William to tell.

Finney really stands out as the older Bloom along with Ewan McGregor, Helena Bonham Carter, Danny DeVito and this movie will require discussion after you leave the theatre. It is rated PG-l3, has images of nudity and many suggestive references so is not for the young. Tim Burton is the director (The Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands).

-Barbara Higdon