Big Fish Review

I've heard a lot of things of this film. Some people say that the film is very good, almost a masterpiece. Others say that it is a strange film. Personally, I think that the two opinions are valid, because it is a Tim Burton's film, and when you see a film of this guy you expect to see a good but strange movie. However, Big Fish has a special characteristic: it is by far the less gothic and dark film of Burton. The fans of the director were disappointed with the film for this reason, but it is unfair to judge the film only because it means a great change in Tim Burton's filmography. Big Fish is a very special film and it has more than we can imagine in it.

The story of Big Fish describes the relationship between Edward Bloom and his son William. During Will's wedding, Edward tells the stoy about the birth of his son but with a lot of exaggerated things. This causes a breach between father and son and they don't speak during three years. One day, Will returns to his father's house because he is very ill. During the journey and the stay in the house, we can see that Will's father has always told him fantastic stories and that he wants to know the real life of his father, refusing to believe that these stories were true.

So Big Fish tells us two stories: the life of Edward Bloom and the desire of Will to search the true life of his father.  On the one hand, the stories that Edward tells are full of fantastic elements, such as witches, giants or werewolves. We can see that Edward, who had born in a small village, had very big ambitions and that he wanted to become a big fish, he wanted to pursue his dreams and, for this reason, he starts a journey. Edward passes throughout a lot of difficulties, but he never gives up and goes after his dreams. He also finds his true love and becomes a very important person.

On the other hand, William doesn't believe his father's stories. He wants to know his true life and he starts searching the truth. William is a person who loves his father, but who refuses to believe such fantastic stories. Searching the truth he comes to think that his father had an affair with other woman and that he had other family, but this wasn't true. Furthermore, the more he digs searching the truth, the less certain he becomes that all the stories were or not were true because the real and the imaginary seem to be indistinguishable from each other.

These two stories have very interesting meanings: we have to pursue our dreams no matter what happens. All the people have dreams and they have to go after them to find a meaning to their lives, to have something to wake up for. Edward was a man with many ambitions, many dreams, and he stops at nothing until he succeeds catching his dreams. Like I said, he confronts many difficulties. For example, he arrives at a village called Spectre which is perfect for everyone because the inhabitants are always happy and they live peacefully. Nonetheless, Edward leaves the village and continues his journey. Finally Edward achieves his goal: he becomes a big fish.

Other meaning of the film is that stories always have something of truth. William had grown up believing his father's tales, but when he becomes an adult he realizes, he wanted to believe that these stories were false. However, at the end of the film he finally believes his father, he understands what his father meant with all his tales: he was telling him his true life, how he had become a big fish, how he had achieved his goal, but he exaggerated the stories a bit. 

So all the stories of Edward were true but they were changed with fantastic elements. I think that Edward made this to continue living in the heart of his family and friends although he was dead; he wanted to become a legend. I've come to these conclusions after hearing the final phrase of the film: "A man tells so many stories, that he becomes the stories. They live on after him, and in that way he becomes immortal." I like this quote because it resumes one of the central topics of the film and it describes very well the character of Edward Bloom.

In Big Fish there are also other characters apart from Edward and William. For example, there is Karl the "giant", the witch who sees the death of Edward or Sandra Templeton, Edward's wife. There are more characters, and all of them are very good. Furthermore, all these characters become very good friends to Edward and when they appear in his funeral Will realizes that his father's stories were true.

Personally, I've liked this film very much, because it describes well the relationship between a son and his parents, especially during the son's childhood. In my case, when I was a child my father told me a lot of stories, and nowadays I know that they aren't true but that my father told them based on his life and it was a different form to tell me his life and the kind of man he is. Other thing that I'd like is the metaphor of the big fish that appears throughout the film (and that gives it its title) because it's a good way to show the personality of the main character, who is very ambitious. Finally, I also like the notion of pursuing our dreams no matter what, I've always done this and I'm going to continue this way until I have achieved my goals. This also demonstrates that life is like our own big adventure and that everyone has to live it according to his ambitions. For me, the best part of the film is, unquestionably, the end scene. It is very emotional that Williams tells his father the final chapter of the story of his life and that all the characters that his father had met appeared in it with the fantastic music of Danny Elfman in the background.

To sum up, I'm happy that there are films like this because they encourage us to have the life we like and to never give up our dreams. I think that Tim Burton has made a very good film, in my opinion it is his best movie, and that he matured as a director with this film. For this reason I encourage all the people to see the movie although it isn't the standard Tim Burton's film. The film becomes better when you see it for the second or the third time, although when you see it for the first time the first minutes can be a bit boring. However, I think that all Tim Burton's fans (and no fans) will enjoy this imaginative, moving and ambitious film, which demonstrates the power of dreams and the magic of stories.