‘Big Fish’ swims on the surface

JIM ERWIN

The true stories of your life are sometimes dry and uneventful, but a

beautifully told lie can be full of excitement and adventure. “Big

Fish,” the latest creation of director Tim Burton, asks which is

better, the plain truth or romantic fantasy?

Unfortunately, romantic fantasies usually fall apart when you

think about them in detail, which is also the problem with “Big

Fish.” This is the kind of movie that’s really good if you don’t

think about it much, but if you reflect on the movie’s message or the

relationships between the characters, then the story quickly falls

apart.

The heart of “Big Fish” is a series of autobiographical tall tales

told by Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) and illustrated on the screen

with Burton’s beautifully surrealistic imagery. The stories that he

tells don’t have a connecting theme that helps them synergize into

something with a greater message -- a pretty big missed opportunity

in a movie of this scale and one of many weak spots in the script.

The fables do, however, feature appearances by Danny DeVito, Steve

Buscemi and Loudon “Dead Skunk” Wainwright III, who are all

hilarious.

The central conflict surrounds the way Edward Bloom has spent his

life telling entertaining fables about himself instead of telling the

truth. For his son, Will Bloom (Billy Crudup), not knowing the truth

about his father is frustrating. He feels like his dad is a stranger.

The two quit speaking to each other until news reaches Will Bloom

that his father’s cancer is in its final stages. The sentimental

notion that a terminal illness can somehow heal all emotional wounds

is an especially despicable Hollywood cliche. The saccharine 2001

hit, “Life as a House,” had a similar problem, but if you loved that

movie, then you’ll probably love “Big Fish.”

Burton’s imagery in “Big Fish” isn’t as dark or satirical as his

previous movies. The mythical tales are romantic stories, so Burton’s

imagery leans more toward bright colors and eccentrically happy

characters. Ewan McGregor plays the young Edward Bloom, whose

adventures are chronicled in the movie’s fables. McGregor’s clean-cut

purity should give you an idea of what to expect from Burton’s

imagery in the movie.

Although McGregor is the movie’s star, the most compelling

performance comes from Finney as the older Edward Bloom. Finney has a

presence that fills the screen and draws you into his character. His

charisma is the main thing this movie has going for it besides

Burton’s imagery. This role will probably get Finney a nomination for

best supporting actor.

“Big Fish” has its moments and is entertaining, but the tone of

the story is troubling. The idea that we should embrace the

entertaining lie as something better than the truth is scary. People

who love to lie about themselves aren’t romanticists, They’re just

liars. On a larger scale, it’s frightening to think about the number

of people who prefer to embrace fables told by politicians about the

war on drugs, the war on terror and other policy failures. Digging

for the truth beyond the mythical sound bites is now considered

unpatriotic.

The story’s father-son conflict was also bothersome. The son wants

to know the truth about his father’s life, but Edward Bloom doesn’t

see the need to tell him. The father even allows their relationship

to sever rather than telling his son the true stories of his life.

For some reason, the father’s pathology about storytelling makes him

this movie’s romantic hero. A heroic father would do whatever he

could to help his son find what he needed to be happy and would never

allow his love for storytelling to break apart their relationship.

“Big Fish” has nice imagery and good acting, but the idea that

sentimentality always trumps reality is a lousy theme for a movie.

Given the number of great movies in the theaters right now, I’d

recommend skipping “Big Fish” and watching it as a rental.

* JIM ERWIN, 40, is a technical writer and computer trainer.