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I had really high hopes for it. I was expecting a fantastical, magical BIG movie.
In reality it's a small movie - the real story is the intimate relationship between father and son and how they reconcile at the end. It's not a new them, by far (I Never Sang For My Father, Magnolia, etc.) It's a fine framework for a story, but ultimately it's a small, personal movie.
The fantastical part were great, but in reality, not ALL that magical. It's hard to explain what I mean - I was just expecting real fantasy and got tall-tales.
Loved the acting - Finney was amazing, I love Ewan MacGregor in anything, and Jessica Lange, while under-used, was perfect.
I thought the ending was way too sappy. I think I would've liked a same kind of ending, only without making it so obvious that it was the son's story-telling. I would've liked to see the ending happen and let us wonder about it. I guess the upshot is that all the magic and fantasy were explained very clearly - more ambiguity would've made it more interesting.
I didn't dislike it - I just expected a lot more. But that's happening a lot to me at the movies lately. Oddly, Kill Bill is the only movie I've seen that exceeded expectations for me.
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