In the event you have been alive and paying consideration within the early 2000s, chances are high you keep in mind Tim Burton’s Huge Fish. Or possibly you don’t. That’s type of the issue. Right here we’re, over twenty years later, and Huge Fish stays a cinematic anomaly—liked by those that noticed it however usually forgotten in broader conversations about Burton’s filmography. How did one of many director’s most bold, heartfelt, and visually gorgeous movies fade into relative obscurity? And why does it should be remembered as his second-best movie, proper behind Ed Wooden? Let’s dive into this bizarre, fantastic, and sadly neglected masterpiece to determine simply what the fuck occurred to Huge Fish.
Launched in 2003, Huge Fish hit theaters when Tim Burton’s profession was at a crossroads. He was nonetheless using excessive from his ‘90s dominance—where he cranked out Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, and Ed Wood—but the 2001 Planet of the Apes remake had left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Burton wanted to show he nonetheless had the magic contact, and Huge Fish was presupposed to be that comeback. It was a fantasy-tinged drama a few dying father (Albert Finney/Ewan McGregor) and his estranged son (Billy Crudup), wrestling with the blurred line between fact and fiction in a life stuffed with tall tales.
On paper, this was a dream undertaking. Primarily based on Daniel Wallace’s 1998 novel of the identical title, Huge Fish had all the weather of a Tim Burton traditional—whimsical visuals, offbeat characters, a dreamy, melancholic ambiance—however with an emotional depth not often seen in his work. Not like the gothic weirdness of his earlier movies, Huge Fish had a heat, golden glow. It was sentimental however by no means saccharine, fantastical however deeply human. It was Burton’s most private movie to this point, impressed by his difficult relationship along with his personal father, and it resonated in methods his different films hadn’t.
When Huge Fish premiered, critics ate it up. Roger Ebert known as it “a delight for the eyes, the heart, and the imagination.” It was nominated for a Golden Globe (Finest Image – Musical or Comedy) and an Academy Award (Finest Authentic Rating), and it even discovered its method onto some critics’ best-of-the-year lists.
However audiences? They have been a bit extra hesitant. The film made a good—however not earth-shattering—$122 million worldwide on a $70 million funds. Not a flop, however not the type of hit that ensures cultural longevity. It got here out in late December, proper in the midst of the Return of the King juggernaut, and in opposition to competitors like Chilly Mountain, Misplaced in Translation, and Mystic River, Huge Fish struggled to make an enduring impression.
So why didn’t Huge Fish obtain the popular culture standing of Edward Scissorhands or Beetlejuice? The reply is difficult, however right here’s some key elements. Whereas Huge Fish had the director’s signature aptitude, it lacked the macabre, gothic sensibilities that outlined his largest hits. There have been no pale, brooding protagonists or eerie German Expressionist-inspired units. For followers who anticipated one thing like Sleepy Hole or Batman, this softer, extra emotional Burton movie might need felt misplaced.
What’s Huge Fish precisely? A fantasy? A drama? A father-son story? A street film? The advertising and marketing struggled to outline it, which damage its capacity to discover a core viewers. Individuals who wished a fantasy epic discovered it too sentimental, and people in search of an easy drama might need been thrown off by its whimsical detours.
A lot of Burton’s movies achieve their endurance from devoted cult audiences. Beetlejuice, The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas, and Edward Scissorhands all had merchandise, Scorching Matter-fueled fandoms, and annual Halloween revivals to maintain them within the public consciousness. Huge Fish didn’t lend itself to that type of branding, so it by no means had the identical longevity in popular culture.
In 2013, Huge Fish was tailored right into a Broadway musical. You didn’t see it? Neither did most individuals. The stage model flopped, closing after simply three months. Whereas some musicals can breathe new life into their supply materials (Heathers, Beetlejuice), this one didn’t reignite curiosity within the movie.
Regardless of its lukewarm field workplace run and relative lack of cultural endurance, Huge Fish is, unquestionably, Tim Burton’s second-best movie. Not like his typical outsider-focused narratives, Huge Fish is about one thing deeply common: the wrestle to grasp our mother and father, the way in which tales form our recollections, and the worry of turning into them. It’s introspective in a method Burton’s movies not often are. Albert Finney and Ewan McGregor deliver Edward Bloom to life with equal elements allure and heartbreak. Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange, and Helena Bonham Carter all ship standout performances, making this one among Burton’s best-acted movies. From the enormous Karl the Large to the dreamy city of Spectre, each body of Huge Fish is full of attractive, fairy-tale imagery. It’s Burton at his most colourful and visually ingenious.
That ending. In the event you’ve seen Huge Fish, you already know what I’m speaking about. The ultimate sequence, the place Will lastly embraces his father’s tales and sends him off with a fantastical farewell, is without doubt one of the most touching moments in Burton’s profession. It’s a gut-punch that stays with you lengthy after the credit roll.
Whereas Ed Wooden stays Burton’s greatest movie (for its sheer love of filmmaking and misfits), Huge Fish looks like its emotional counterpoint. The place Ed Wooden celebrates the enjoyment of storytelling, Huge Fish explores its necessity. Each films present how tales form us—one via Hollywood’s most notorious director, the opposite via a son attempting to grasp his father.
So what the fuck occurred? The reality is, Huge Fish was a sufferer of unhealthy timing, tough advertising and marketing, and a fandom that didn’t fairly know what to do with it. However time has been form to the movie. Increasingly more individuals are discovering it (or rediscovering it), and it stays probably the most heartfelt, superbly crafted films of the 2000s. Possibly it was by no means meant to be a Nightmare Earlier than Christmas-style phenomenon. Possibly Huge Fish was at all times presupposed to be a quiet traditional, dwelling within the hearts of those that related with it, ready to ,be discovered once more. So if you happen to haven’t watched Huge Fish shortly, do your self a favor: return and revisit it. Let your self get misplaced in Edward Bloom’s tales. And once you get to that remaining scene—when the music swells, and the tall tales turn into actual—simply strive to not cry. I dare you. As a result of Huge Fish isn’t simply one among Tim Burton’s greatest movies. It’s the most effective movies, interval.
