As the father retells his oft-told tales, he peppers us with little homilies. "A giant of a man can't have an ordinary sized life," the younger Edward remarks. His character is so much like a slightly smarter Forrest Gump that I kept waiting for the Ping-Pong competition.

DeVito plays Amos, a circus ringmaster and the owner of a giant, Colossus (George McArthur), not quite as big as Karl (Matthew McGrory), Edward's giant. Amos likes to lecture Edward with thoughts such as, "You're a big fish in a small pond; but this here is an ocean, and you're drowning." Edward works for three years for Amos while getting one clue a month as to the identity of the woman that Edward saw once briefly in a crowd and fell in love with. MATCHSTICK MEN's female lead, Alison Lohman, plays the part of Edward's love interest. Like the rest of the cast, Lohman was much better in every other movie she has been in.

The movie works sporadically but then falls into another long lull. Burton seems more interested in the fanciful set decoration that in fashioning a compelling story. The characters' bad and wavering Southern accents are an apt metaphor for the movie itself. The accents come and go but sometimes, as much by accident as by design, they do ring true.

BIG FISH runs a long 2:00. The film is rated PG for "a fight scene, some images of nudity and a suggestive reference" and would be acceptable for kids around 9 and up, but most kids will find little to interest them in the story.