Big Fish

A buoyant and evocative, hard-to-believe, but easy-to-embrace collection of truth-stretching tales from a modern-day Baron Munchausen, Big Fish couldn't be more perfectly matched to the appealingly off-kilter sensibilities of director Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands). Populated by misunderstood giants, bizarre circus folk, bewildered werewolves, idyllic denizens of hamlets lost in time, and other eccentrics, it's a film saturated with the colorful embellishments of one Edward Bloom (Albert Finney), a former traveling salesman whose fanciful yarns have always frustrated his paradoxically practical son Will (Billy Crudup)--and never more so than now, as the old man is dying. In Will's last attempt to connect with his father, the audience is led into Edward's past, where Burton's penchant for whimsy and fantasy create a captivating atmosphere of skewed reality inside this world of dubious anecdotes in which Ewan McGregor (playing the younger Edward with a warm, charming aw-shucksiness) is joined by a sublime supporting cast that includes Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, and Helena Bonham Carter. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by director Tim Burton, three “The Character's Journey” featurettes including “Edward Bloom at Large” (9 min.), “Amos at the Circus” (5 min.), and “Fathers and Sons” (7 min.); four “The Filmmakers' Path” featurettes including “Tim Burton: Storyteller” (7 min.), “A Fairytale World” (9 min.), “Creature Features” (6 min.), and “The Author's Journey” (8 min.); a “Fish Tales” viewing option with icon links to access behind-the-scenes making-of segments during the film; “The Finer Points: A Trivia Quiz” with a two-minute visual effects segment as a reward, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for one of 2003's more interesting films.] (R. Blackwelder)