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Will Bloom, a journalist (Billy Crudup), returns home with his wife to visit his dying father Edward (elder played by Albert Finney, younger played by [[Ewan McGregor]]). He is displeased to find that his father continues to tell the same old [[Tall Tale|tall tales]] he's told all his life, and has now enraptured his wife. Still, he's determined to [[Tell Me About My Father|write his father's story]], and searches for some of the people his father crossed paths with. The further he searches, the more he finds that those stories might not be as far-fetched as they once seemed.
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* [[Anachronic Order]]: Sort of. Edward's childhood encounter with the Witch is one of the first stories that he tells Will. We later learn that
{{quote|
▲* [[Anachronic Order]]: Sort of. Edward's childhood encounter with the Witch is one of the first stories that he tells Will. We later learn that {{spoiler|she was inspired by the adult Jenny, who began living alone after Spectre dried up and Edward rejected her}}. Because of the [[Unreliable Narrator]], it's hard to tell where/if the latter events fit into Edward's tall tales, but it's still Lampshaded by Will.
▲{{quote| '''Will''': Well, logically {{spoiler|you couldn't be the Witch}} because she was old when he was young.<br />
▲'''Jenny''': It's logical if you think like your father. }}
* [[Calling the Old Man Out]]: Will pulls this on Edward at the beginning, accusing his father of being a self-centered asshole who hides behind tall tales because they're easier to deal with than the real world. The rest of the movie follows his attempts at reconciliation.
* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: Edward's [[Dull Surprise|calm]] answer to the North Korean duo's [[What the Fu Are You Doing?|intimidating display]] [[Funny Bruce Lee Noises|of]] skillful martial arts is a pair of [[Night Vision Goggles]]... and [[Battle Discretion Shot|a total]] [[Relax
* [[The Catfish]] - The first of many tall tales spun by his father, notable for its occurrence during his son's birth.▼
▲* [[Combat Pragmatist]]: Edward's [[Dull Surprise|calm]] answer to the North Korean duo's [[What the Fu Are You Doing|intimidating display]] [[Funny Bruce Lee Noises|of]] skillful martial arts is a pair of [[Night Vision Goggles]]... and [[Battle Discretion Shot|a total]] [[Relax O Vision|blackout]].
* [[Conjoined Twins]]
* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: It's implied that Norther Winslow becomes one on Wall Street after robbing banks doesn't work out so well.
* [[Crap Saccharine World]]: Played with. There's nothing really wrong with the town of Specter, it appears to be just as nice as everyone says it is. But its perfection is...unsettling, in a way that's hard to define, but still undeniable.
* [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check]]: Invoked. Norther Winslow tries to make it as a professional thief, but it doesn't work out because Texas oil speculation has bankrupted the bank that he tries to rob. His response?
{{quote|
* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: The Witch.
* [[Death Is Dramatic]]: Subverted. Edward dies quietly in the hospital after a stroke, but
* [[Does Not Like Shoes]]: The eternally barefoot population of Specter. A rare plot important example, because {{spoiler|stealing new visitors' shoes is how the townspeople keep them from entering the forest to leave the town.}}
** [[Foot Focus]]: Quite a plenty of everyone in Specter, naturally. {{spoiler|It's also how Edward realizes he's speaking to an older Jenny.}}
* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: [[Invoked Trope|INVOKED.]] Edward knows how he's going to die, which hilariously lets him out of another life-threatening situation when he points out this isn't what the vision showed.
* [[Gaussian Girl]]: Both the young Sandra and Jenny share this when they're in a rather romantic scene.
* [[Gentle Giant]]: Karl.▼
* [[Genre Shift]]: In-universe example. While Will's [[Framing Device|framing story]] stays constant, Edward's stories range from horror (the Witch, the Giant), to fantasy (Spectre, the Circus), to [[Romantic Comedy]] (the courtship of Sandra), to war (the Twins), to crime drama (Norther Winslow).
▲* [[Gentle Giant]]: Karl.
* [[Glamorous Wartime Singer]]: The Siamese twins Edward encounters when he accidentally parachutes into an enemy performance; they agree to help him if he finds a way to get them to the America. {{spoiler|(In the end, it's revealed they weren't actually conjoined, although they were twins from Siam.)}}
* [[Grand Romantic Gesture]]: Edward stages several of these to win over Sandra, the biggest being {{spoiler|the field of daffodils-- 'cause they her
** Because Tim Burton wanted to avoid CGI in this film,
* [[Ironic Echo]]:
** First:
{{quote|
'''Edward''': 18.
'''Jenny (age 8)''': I'm 8. That means that when I'm 18, you'll be 28. And when I'm 28, you'll be 38.
'''Edward''': You're pretty good at arithmetic.
'''Jenny (age 8)''': And when I'm 38, you'll only be 48. That's not much difference at all.
'''Edward''': Sure seems like a lot now though, huh?
** Later:
{{quote|
'''Jenny''': Yeah. I was 18, he was 28. Turns out it was a big difference.
▲* [[
* [[Lighter and Softer]]: Surprisingly, one of [[Tim Burton]]'s more recent films that [[Playing Against Type|isn't dark or gothic.]]
* [[Love At First Sight]]: Edward upon first seeing Sandra.
* [[Misunderstood Loner
* [[The Munchausen]]: Subverted.
* [[Only a Flesh Wound]]: Edward is accidentally shot in the shoulder in one scene, but even immediately after it doesn't seem to affect him much.
* [[Quirky Town]]: Spectre.
** [[Town
* [[Refusing Paradise]]:
* [[The Reveal]]: Edward Bloom passes away, drawing quite a crowd to his funeral.
**
* [[Scare Dare]]: Here it's an ''abandoned house''.
* [[Self
* [[Separated At Birth Casting]]: Jessica Lange doesn't look much like [https://web.archive.org/web/20120516091501/http://www.celebritiesfans.com/Pic/alisonlohman.jpg Alison Lohman]... now. But go and watch [http://hiwaay.net/~oliver/jlpostman1.jpg her in the early]{{Dead link}} [[The Eighties|'eighties]].
** Same goes for [http://www.filmsy.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/ewan-mcgregor-kurt-cobain-movie-1-17-07.jpg Ewan McGregor] and a young [https://web.archive.org/web/20130511053127/http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/j/Albert%20Finney.jpg Albert Finney].
* [[Single Target Sexuality]]: Edward Bloom. His son Will thinks he {{spoiler|had an affair with Jenny}} until it turns out that {{spoiler|it was completely platonic}}.▼
** Not for lack of trying on her part.▼
* [[Shrouded in Myth]]: Ed's particular problem, which has caused a few years of estrangement. No one can tell which stories he tells are true and which are just him spinning yarns.
▲* [[Single
▲** Not for lack of trying on her part.
* [[Slipstream]]
* [[Something Completely Different]]: Go back and check. This is the first [[Tim Burton]] film to depict a functional American family whose members, while they certainly have their eccentricities, most definitely do not hate each other and are able to resolve internal conflicts with love and tolerance
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: To ''[[Forrest Gump]]''. Think about it.
* [[Stan Winston]]: Responsible for the quirky fairytale characters, not to mention realistically-aging Helena Bohnam Carter to an old lady and back.
* [[Sweet Home Alabama]]
* [[Tall Tale]]: Played with.
* [[This Is My Story]]: "In telling the story of my father's life, it's impossible to separate fact from fiction, the man from the myth. The best I can do is to tell it the way he told me." (although slightly subverted into a sort of This Is His Story As He Told It To Me
* [[When Trees Attack]]: Soon after leaving Spectre for the first time, Edward is ambushed by a group of trees whose intents are far from friendly. However, it's hilariously subverted when
* [[Wicked Witch]]: Averted.
* [[Wolf Man]]:
▲* [[When Trees Attack]]: Soon after leaving Spectre for the first time, Edward is ambushed by a group of trees whose intents are far from friendly. However, it's hilariously subverted when {{spoiler|Edward remembers how he would die in the Old Witch's magic eye and exclaims "This isn't how I die!", making the trees leave him alone immediately.}}
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[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]
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