Tim Burton’s 10 Best Movie Adaptations

2) Big Fish

Big Fish is such a different film from Burton that, if it wasn’t for the presence of Helena Bonham Carter and certain visual motifs, you might not even realize he directed it at all. An adaptation of Daniel Wallace’s novel of the same name, Big Fish is the most heartwarming work he has ever made.

On the surface, it could be summed up as a fantasy Forrest Gump, as Ewan McGregor plays a man who tells tall tales about meeting giants, witches and werewolves. Really, though, it’s a touching tale of a man trying to unite with his dying father and the legacy we leave behind once we die. Burton made the movie shortly after his own father died, which probably contributed to the unusual tone that mostly swaps the familiar surrealism for sentiment.