Big Fish

Throughout his life Edward Bloom has always been a man of big appetites, enormous passions and tall tales. In his later years, he remains a huge mystery to his son, William. Now, to get to know the real man, Will begins piecing together a true picture of his father from flashbacks of his amazing adventures.

Burton's fantasy-laden father-son story won over a majority of critics with its visual invention and emotional warmth, but the gap between enthusiastic and skeptical reviewers is wide — those who surrendered to its tall-tale charm found it genuinely moving, while skeptics found the father's mythologizing tiresome and the reconciliation arc predictable. Audience affection has held considerably stronger than critical consensus would suggest.