After the relative misfire of 'Planet of the Apes', Tim Burton returns to safer territory with the charming and whimsical father-son comedy drama, 'Big Fish'. As his father, the intensely charismatic but self-centred Edward Bloom (Finney), lies dying from cancer, Will (Crudup) tries to reconcile himself to his dad's lifetime of tall tales and half-truths. Returning to his bedside, Will is desperate to understand his old man before he expires - a fact which is exacerbated by his own impending fatherhood.
But Edward's not a man to let the truth get in the way of a good yarn, and he spends his final days reliving past glories with his wife (Lange), including fantastic stories of how the pair met (played in youth by McGregor and Lohman). Before their marriage young Edward, it seems, had to befriend a giant, escape from a town called Spectre and join a circus run by a werewolf. And that's just the first thirty minutes.
With much of the film told in flashback and on such a liberal footing with the truth, there's a rich visual energy at the heart of 'Big Fish'. Burton lets himself run riot in these sequences, channelling his unique sensibilities into the light-hearted but emotive story, which rarely overplays its hand and only slightly outstays its welcome.
Though the present day scenes are understandably more sombre, Finney's splendid work more than compensates. It's a towering magnetic performance and one that only endears his good natured fables and half-truths all the more. Crudup does such a good job in such a thankless supporting role that he and the peerless Finney ultimately help to give 'Big Fish' a sense of balance that Burton's films have often lacked in the past.
