In the telling of his fathers life it was impossible to separate fact from fiction, the man from the myth the best that Will Bloom can do is tell it how it was told to him. For the story and life of Edward Bloom is larger than life and almost impossible to separate the tales from what truly happened, as he has always been a teller of tall-tales about his oversized life as a young man. When wanderlust struck Edward it led him on an unlikely journey from a small-town of Ashton Alabama, around the world, and back again. His mythic exploits dart from the delightful to the delirious as he weaves epic tales about giants, a witch and conjoined-twin lounge singers. With his larger-than-life stories, Bloom charms almost everyone he encounters except for his estranged son Will. For when Will was a boy he loved the stories of his father’s life but now that he has grown older and heard their recounting so many times he has grown weary of them and resentful that his father never told him the truth. But when his father grows ill his mother Sandra tries to reunite them, and now Will must learn how to separate fact from fiction as he comes to terms with his father's great feats and great failings as he attempts to reconcile with not only his father but also his past as he tries to unfold the story of his fathers life for future generations of Bloom’s. But it may be too little to late as both is father and Will may have grown too far apart by the wedge the stories set between them.

What an absolutely fascinating tale of some incredible and amazing stories that just thrills and amazes you. But it’s more than just that as the movie also manages to enthrall you with some great drama as Edward and Will try and reconcile their differences before Edward dies. The movie has a little bit of everything from fanciful characters, to amazing feats, to great drama and even a liberal amount of comedy. Tim Burton clearly has an amazing imagination and he also has an incredible talent of bringing it to the screen where he can share it with the whole world. The movie is almost borderline fantasy while at the same time being bound so wonderfully to reality with the drama of father and son at odds end over the stories of one man’s life. Sure, the ending might be a little anti-climatic as I would have preferred to leave all the fanciful tales to the imagination of the audience but its Hollywood after all and such an unclean ending is not normally allowed nor accepted. Still the movie is an amazing piece of work that combines the wonders of Tim Burton with the great acting skills of Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney and Jessica Lange. It is very easy to believe Ewan as the younger version of Albert as they both do splendid jobs of capturing you and enthralling you in the movie that is itself larger than life.
4 stars out of 5