Tim Burton's Big Fish is a lot like that Federal Express commercial where the young office worker suggests using the overnight delivery company to save money and then tells the story of his claim to fame until the day he dies.  Thankfully, the "story" in Fish is much more interesting than the FedEx ad, even though its repeated just as often.

William Bloom (Billy Crudup, Charlotte Gray) doesn't feel the same way, though.  He's never been able to establish a relationship with his father Edward (Albert Finney, Traffic), because instead of dispensing wisdom via typical father-son chats, Ed chooses to tell tall tales about his life (his younger version is played by Down With Love's Ewan McGregor).  Ed's accounts are of giants, witches, werewolves, bank-robbing poets, conjoined twins and circus strongmen.  Instead of telling William about the birds and the bees, Ed conjures up the story of a bird who caused him to be chased by bees until he discovered a magic town from which nobody leaves.  When a young William (Grayson Stone) complains about having to stay in bed for a week with the chicken pox, Ed replies, "Heck, when I was little, I had to stay in bed for three whole years," before launching into a tale about how fast he grew as a boy.

Eager to escape his father and the stories, an adult William leaves Ashton, Alabama, moves to Paris and doesn't speak to his father for three years. Then, out of the blue, he gets the big call from his mom (Jessica Lange, Titus):  His dad is dying, so he'd better get back and patch things up.  And that sets up Fish's dual narrative - Ed's unusual tales of his youth juxtaposed against William's last attempt to learn something real about his pop.

Fish, which is inexplicably rated PG-13 despite being the best family film since the similarly-rated Whale Rider, invokes the memories of a lot of other films, despite being original enough to not be considered a cheap knockoff.  There's Secondhand Lions (old guy telling kid unbelievable stories about his youth), The Princess Bride (old guy telling kid stories), The Barbarian Invasions (father and son trying to mend relationship), Burton's own Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (unlikely hero has unlikelier exploits), at least a couple of Terry Gilliam films (the dark kids' stuff) and Forrest Gump (too many similarities to mention).  I also found it comparable to The Straight Story (which was rated G, by the way) in that both are incredibly well-crafted stories made by filmmakers who usually tread in much darker waters.

Fish also features some of the year's best casting (Alison Lohman as a young Lange is dead ringer), as well as a very strong ensemble performance which includes a pair of cameos from Faye Dunaway and Julianne Moore.  Helena Bonham Carter lends a smashingly consistent accent to one character, and Danny Elfman contributes his usual odd-but-rousing score.  Fish is a big step in the right direction for screenwriter John August (he adapted Daniel Wallace's novel) after following up the brilliant Go with the two Charlie's Angels flicks.  Ditto for Burton (Planet of the Apes), who since 1994 has offered a very good film every other outing.  Of course, that doesn't bode well for his upcoming version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

2:02 –

for a fight scene, some images of nudity and a suggestive reference