Big Fish starts with the narrator coming home to see his father, who is dying. His father is a man of many stories, each of them fantastic, and each completely unbelievable to the narrator, which has caused a large rift between him and his father. But no matter how tall the tale, in each is a kernel of truth...

Films like this make me glad I got over my youth, and have reconnected with my father. Our situation was different (I was too much like my father to see past my anger at him) than the one in the film, but father/son films still have a strong resonance with me. However, the father/son story takes a backseat to the "main course", the stories the father tells of how he left home, had some adventures, and met the girl he was meant to spend the rest of his life with, then had some even more unlikely adventures.

The film is a Tim Burton production, and it shows - the world is a bright, colorful place until it transforms into a dark cold threatening place, then back to the other extreme. There are of course bizzare characters, strange places, and strange adventures - and hints of how things really happened.

Still, the hints aren't quite enough - I wanted to really like this story, but I came out just so-soing it. It lacked emotional impact for some reason for me. It's still worth a view, but don't expect waterworks.

3 out of 5 stars on Netflix.