TheRetroCritic

Tim Burton takes a stab at a more personal story with this adaptation of Daniel Wallace's novel. The film follows a son trying to make sense of all the tall tales his dying father spoke about since he was a kid in order to maybe find a connection with him before it's too late. The tall tales in question lend themselves to a lot of fantasy and Burton imagery from werewolves to giants and witches. The tone of the film, however, is very different than what you'd expect from that particular director. A lot of it is surprisingly earnest and you even get a good chunk of the film set in the unaltered real world, a rarity for Burton. Billy Crudup plays the disapproving son and Albert Finney the story-telling dad with a pre-Oscar Marion Cotillard popping up as Crudup's wife. The dynamic between these characters is a tense, interesting one as it's Burton trying his hand at straight-up drama (with a touch of humour, of course) and, although fans of his most stylised stuff