I saw Big Fish in the theaters 3 times; it was just that compelling to me. A couple people I know didn't really care for it, and some liked it, so liking this movie means having a certain aesthetic taste, but regardless, Big Fish can really be appreciated for its incredible artistic presence, whatever your tastes.



The dialectic back-and-forth between story and real-life is a powerful element in this movie, and the cinematography really fleshes out the fictional scenes to great effect.



One thing I love about Tim Burton is his symbolism. All the imagination he puts into his movies really come through because you can see and feel the symbolism in what happens to the characters and in the style of the scene or how everything looks, and watching Big Fish, I just felt like his depictions of certain sensitivities to life and emotions were so RIGHT. His artistic metaphors, like Ewan McGregor getting entrapped by an eery Snow-White-esque tree, realizing this isn't the way he dies, and then abruptly plummeting from the tree's ensnarings, that's just brilliant, I mean, you're watching something totally unreal happening but you couldn't feel closer to what it means.



In addition the characters are great, they are acted out with nice charisma and charm, and the running theme of the movie has to do with story-telling and imagination itself - so fundamental and ~SO~ good.