Big Fish (2003)

A heartwarming journey that delves deep into a fabled relationship between a father and his son.
Cast and Information
Directed By: Tim Burton
Written By: John August, Daniel Wallace
Starring: Steve Buscemi, Danny DeVito, Ewan McGregor, Helena Bonham Carter, Missi Pyle, Marion Cotillard, Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Billy Crudup, Robert Guillaume, David Denman, Alison Lohman
Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Adventure
Country: USA
Where to Stream
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Big Fish belongs to 66 collections
1. IMDB Top 250 (collaborative: moderated by ppinocchio - 123 stars)
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Browse the full list of collections
Stars | User | Rating | |
6 | ![]() |
Jeb | 91 82nd |
I sat down watching Big Fish expecting it to be regular Burton at his decent. However, Burton has completely altered his usual formula and has now concentrated not only on his preserved flair, but the plotline (Which all can appreciate and snuggle up to here). Steve Buscemi is astounding, quite hypnotic and he deserves a lot of recognition. Burton, instead of producing another remake, decided to make this and what a relief he actually did. Proves he's more than just a hollywood director.
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cagedwisdom | 100 90th |
Something of a Tim Burton's Forrest Gump, this film has a few issues (such as an at times disjointed narrative structure) that are pretty much instantly rectified by a superb cast, fantastic visuals and quite strong direction from Burton. A truly great story. One of Burton's best, and easily his most heartwarming. If only he'd snap out of his now decade-long remake-producing coma more often.
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Tripwyre | 89 90th |
Burton is a director famous for his visual style, but his storytelling abilities have always been a bit...off. Classics like Edward Scissorhands and Batman are memorable not for the stories they told so much as the flair with which they told them. Big Fish certainly benefits from that flair, but it uses it to tell a real heartfelt story -- style and substance are in equal measure here. The acting is all solid, but Buscemi steals the show. If this isn't Burton's best, it's certainly among them.
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4 | Revolutiono | 9 93rd |
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By splitting the movie between the real and the fictional worlds, Tim Burton finds a way to keep the sentiment feeling true and still preserve his own style. The movie works as a defense of his own outlandish storytelling in addition to being a (just-short-of-too) emotional look at a father-son relationship.
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ozymandius10 | 88 95th |
One of the few movies I almost cried in. I'm not usually a Tim Burton fan, but this is a great movie. The storytelling really does take you to another place, and it's really masterful.
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kubricksucks | 60 15th |
Tim Burton can't do a goddamn thing right without clay
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3 | Manhatta | 65 34th |
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A sappy story with wonderful visuals (probably Burton's best as far as art direction goes) and decent performances, it just rings strangely hollow.
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catfacer | 20 20th |
This did not warm my heart, it made my brain melt with its tedious nonsense.
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MartinTeller | 63 22nd |
Whimsical, cute, well-done. No big complaints. Not much to say... it doesn't stick with you very long.
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timmo | 90 66th |
I wept.
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Mini-T | 90 90th |
Mesmerizing. Incredible nice work by the great mind of Tim Burton. Amazing to watch it , without being bored a second. The story will move everybody who watches it. And by the way , Danny DeVito looks great as an old man.
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XakkMaster | 96 97th |
All our lives are extraordinary if you know how to tell the story! Ewan McGregor stars as Edward Bloom, a man who has done quite alot in his lifetime by the sound of it. As his life nears its end, he is confronted by his son who wants to know the truth about all the tall tales he's heard over the years. Perhaps director Tim Burton's finest film, it is a fantasy tale that melds with the real world in a way few films ever have. Both charming and entirely heart warming.
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Neonman | 54 9th |
Such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such, such a short film idea. Would've been better if it were an hour and a half shorter.
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mwgerb | 56 56th |
This is a good movie; it's certainly fun and light-hearted and pretty-looking. But I thought the tall tales and the frame stories clashed, rather than harmonized, invalidating and distracting from the other one, rather than adding meaning. So by the time they get to the REAL MEANING, it's pounded in so much that it feels ineffective and emotionally unengaging. Still, eminently watchable, even it didn't work on a deeper level for me.
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roofs_runner | 100 99th |
One of my all times movies, though it's constantly being blamed for not being really Burtonish, but it's our life, where there is always a place for such a warm and touching story about the power of love and imagination.
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1 | ssmodk | 88 78th |
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Hard to explain in simple terms, but an enjoyable tall tale of the roads we walk in life and what it all means in the end. Heartfelt and the most well-crafted work Burton has ever done, devoid of his usual pretensions.
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1 | nrhughes | 85 72nd |
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Poignant, charming, and all around a beautiful film.
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1 | DuaneNeitzel | 65 35th |
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The parent's story is good. The son's angst is tiresome.
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TripleSH | 70 53rd |
If you like Tim Burton, you should like this film. There's not much else to say about this.
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CCLZA | 60 33rd |
Sadly, it's a beautifully over-stylized case of poor direction and writing.
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fabfunk | 53 46th |
Superficial but mostly pleasing drama about a stubborn son and his fantastical father.
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1 | Loki | 80 73rd |
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Thoughtful and moving and full of great Burton visuals.
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1 | josauuce | 85 53rd |
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not a huge tim burton fan, but this one was pretty cute. minus the end when the fish jumps out of the water into the sky.
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1 | Chili | 90 81st |
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Great feel to throughout the whole film. Very enjoyable and very grabbing.
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rockwell | 60 24th |
we get it tim burton you are excentric
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BattleToad | 80 63rd |
Once again, Tim Burton goes and does something that at least temporarily proves that he is a great director. Big Fish is fun and heartwarming, and the outstanding cast deserves recognition for each of their very strange roles in this film. Really good!
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Carpetgiant | 87 74th |
One Burton, two Burton, red Burton, blue Burton.
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1 | citysqwirl | 64 26th |
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I should have loved this movie -- imagination rising above the mundane pedantries of daily life -- but the moments of imagination started feeling repetative, and when are directors and editors going to realize that slow and ponderous does not equal meaningful and heartwarming?
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bethelysa | 70 51st |
Not as good as the book, but charming nonetheless. Albert Finney is top-notch, and Alison Lohman is luminescent. Though parts of the movie were a bit over-the-top, the ending brought genuine and well-earned tears to my eyes.
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Alex Watkins | 3 38th |
S'alright.
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Bojangles | 10 2nd |
Sink-in-your-chair schmaltz at a constant and full force. So much so that as you're watching it you kind of want to kill yourself.
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ktappe | 71 40th |
A wee bit too much fantasy and nostalgia for my tastes. Yes, that's kind of the point of the film so I've not knocked it too hard, but you really have to be in the mood for an "out there" type of flick to enjoy this one. It had great potential with the father-son relationship, but that never really felt...um....real. In fact, the fantasy setting of the film gets in the way of the viewer truly taking that relationship to heart.
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Jarmann | 65 31st |
While great on visuals, the movie is too weak in the story-telling. Too bad.
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Eglantine | 90 84th |
Sweet film! The most important thing is how you see your life, not how it really is! Your imagination can change and rearrenge everything!
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purgatos | 69 46th |
Manipulative and sappy, but looks really pretty.
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Gr8Googly | 82 79th |
Burton's best film in my opinion. Finally hitting a perfect link between fantasy and real world emotional connections. Burton surprised many with this one after the disastrous Planet of the Apes remake.
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1 | bamp | 90 62nd |
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ewan, billy, family stuffs.
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Cahadras1 | 96 96th |
I love it
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NathanDarko | 98 98th |
Big Fish isn't the typical Burton Movie, maybe it's his multifaceted Movie ever.Full of incredible characters, ideas and beautiful scenes. I love this Movie.
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cult_of_same | 85 98th |
A reimagined life with saturated colour <3 <3
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1 | filmdot | 95 93rd |
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Wow. Gorgeously amusing and wondrous. Billy Crudup and Ewan Mcgregor are great here but Albert Finney is marvelous. A story for the ages. That ending was beautiful.
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DavidBlast | 35 20th |
I probably give this movie less credit than deserves, but I don't like stories that are obviously taking place in someones fantasy. It's better than 'Sucker Punch', mind, but, listen, If I really wanted to imagine-imagine something, and I were too cheap to buy 3D glasses, I'd go to that great whore house of pretentiousness: The theatre.
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pewbeng | 89 88th |
Watched this movie with two buddies. So, three grown up men are sitting there and say absolutely nothing throughout the movie. After the film ended we were teary-eyed and swore to never talk about it again. Oops..
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ozleem | 84 82nd |
hayal mi gerçek mi?
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Rufam | 75 72nd |
"Big Fish" fails to avoid cliché and sentimentality, the editing is occasionally problematic and sometimes the whimsy feels forced. That doesn't stop it from being one of Burton's finest efforts, a sweet and imaginable fable, told with great energy, conviction, passion for the material and entertaining visual flourishes. The cast is also impressive.
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hardcoreufo | 74 55th |
Shock horror Burton can actually make a decent movie on occasion! Loses points for the stalker bullshit Bloom does that's sold as *so romantic*
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Alon Reter | 15 11th |
This is one of the of the biggest pieces of kitch and corniness I have ever seen. It barely even has Burton's great eccentric style or iconic creativity, it's a celebration of american tackiness in disguise, and in a bad one too.
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Paxton | 80 87th |
Aside from my looking exactly like Ewan McGregor, the stories about my past aren't embellished at all.
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amirmovie | 89 93rd |
It's a movie, the way it's meant to be, with all needed fantasies, emotions and great..really great pictures. I love it!
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magdabag | 89 75th |
I'm a big fan of big fish, and you could be too!
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ImOmerCetin | 60 29th |
Okay.
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Displaying 1 to 250 of 398 total ratings: Prev | Next
Average Percentile 60.14% from 14787 Ratings | ![]() |