'BIG FISH' A FINE BURTON CATCH.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

'BIG FISH'' is Tim Burton's masterpiece. And why not? It's a movie about a man whose life is marked by the tall tales he tells, the perfect subject matter for a filmmaker whose reputation rests on a flair for the fantastic. ``Big Fish'' is one of those rare, artful movies that you can call magical without misusing the word, the culmination of a career spent examining, delivering and reveling in the power that fables have in transforming our lives.

The movie is also one of the most beautiful father-and-son stories ever told, containing the requisite elements of healing and forgiveness, respect and love. But Burton - and much credit also should go to novelist Daniel Wallace and screenwriter John August - plays down these elements (or at least, he appears to) until the very end, which makes the movie's profound conclusion all the more emotionally satisfying. I haven't cried this much during the closing credits in years.

The film's central character is Edward Bloom who, as a young man, was indeed the big fish in his small town. But now, he's older, ailing and estranged from his son, Will (Billy Crudup), who resented his father for absences both physical and, in Will's eyes, emotional. For Will, his dad's yarns are barricades that keep him and the world at a distance. And just because the old man may be dying doesn't mean that Will is now eager to break down those barriers.

For Edward, his stories of the rural South - like the time he caught the world's biggest catfish with his wedding ring or when he saved his hometown from a hungry giant or how he worked as an indentured servant in a circus just so he could learn tidbits of information about the woman he wanted to marry - are not only his life, but life itself. Maybe they're real, maybe they're not, maybe the truth lies somewhere in between. However you interpret them doesn't change their importance.

The two incarnations of Edward are inspired casting. Ewan McGregor possesses the incorrigible charm to play the younger version, the confident youth and future traveling salesman who hasn't encountered anyone or anything he couldn't eventually bend to his will. Those qualities remain in the older Edward (brilliantly played by the great Albert Finney), but you also notice the cracks in the conceit. That McGregor bears an uncanny resemblance to Albert Finney circa ``Tom Jones'' makes the transitions between past and present seamless.

All the other aspects of the film - the outstanding supporting cast (Jessica Lange, Danny De Vito, Alison Lohman, too many to name, really), Philippe Rousselot's extraordinary cinematography, production designer Dennis Gassner's miraculously realized sets - are superlative, every bit the equal of Edward's outsize tales.

But where the film soars is in Burton's ability to connect the greatness of Edward's stories and the beauty that lies within his life, within his soul. Certainly the man has his failings. But when his son learns to look past them and really listen to the tales his father tells, he sees that the facts aren't as important as the spirit in which they're told. That sense of wonder - to look at the world with the eyes of a child - is what Burton is celebrating here, and you'll be hard-pressed to find a more big-hearted feast of a movie.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

BIG FISH - Four stars

(PG-13: a fight scene, some images of nudity, a suggestive reference)

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman and Danny De Vito.

Director: Tim Burton.

Running time: 2 hr. 5 min.

Playing: Pacific's The Grove Stadium 14 in Beverly Hills; AMC Century 14 in Century City. Expands citywide on Christmas Day.

In a nutshell: A story well-told about a man who tells well-told stories. Tim Burton's masterpiece.

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Ewan McGregor is the young, yarn-spinning Edward Bloom in Tim Burton's ``Big Fish.''