Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Batman Returns, Sleepy Hollow, Mars Attacks, Ed Wood, Tim Burton's films have never lacked imagination. And true to form, Big Fish is imaginative and larger-than-life. At its most basic, it's the story of a father and son who, as the son says, "are strangers who know each other very well." 

Edward Bloom (played by Albert Finney and Ewan MacGregor) is a man known for his tall tales and wild imagination. The problem is that his son, Will (Billy Crudup), would prefer the mundane truth to his father's fanciful stories and exaggerations. With his father on his deathbed, Will makes one last attempt to get to the truth about who his father is and what his life was really about. He hopes his father will finally separate the unadorned facts from the elaborate fictions. 

Where the story thrives is in the retelling of Edwards's most outrageous stories. Visually lush and wildly inventive, Burton creates a world where werewolves and giants mingle with witches and Siamese twins. It's a world where persistence pays off and love really does conquer all. Despite a standout performance by Ewan MacGregor and solid performances by Finney and Jessica Lange/Allison Lohman (as Edward's wife), it is in these fables that Burton comes alive. Burton is a master of creating cinematic fairy tales. The comparisons to the Wizard of Oz are fitting because in these stories within the story you feel as if you are being swept away to a magical celluloid land of make-believe. Burton's wife Helena Bonham-Carter, Robert Guillaume, Steve Buscemi and Danny DeVito all add to the quirky magic of Edward's charmed life. 

It is in the 'real-life' segments that the movie falls short. Maybe that's how Burton wanted it. Maybe he wanted us to understand why Edward would prefer his world of impossible possibilities to the limited and routine real world. Whatever the reason, every time the movie returned to reality, I was ready to take another flight of fancy. If there were any performances that fell flat for me, it would be that of Billy Crudup as Edward's dour son. It's not even that he's a bad actor or that he gives a bad performance, it's just that he is overshadowed by Finney and MacGregor.