Koko Lists
Start a new list
Log in
Sign up
← New random battle
Koko Battle
Tap your pick.
Big Fish
Big Fish, released in 2003 and directed by Tim Burton, follows a son trying to separate fact from his dying father's lifelong habit of embellishing his own life story with elaborate, tall-tale fantasy embellishments, presented through visually lush flashback sequences depicting the father's exaggerated personal mythology. The film's blend of genuine emotional father-son reconciliation with Burton's characteristically whimsical visual fantasy sequences gave Big Fish a different tonal register than much of Burton's more overtly gothic or macabre earlier filmography, reflecting a more sincere, less ironic sensibility. Its climactic sequence, in which the son finally embraces and continues telling his father's exaggerated stories himself during his father's final moments, offered a genuinely moving meditation on how personal mythology and storytelling can constitute a meaningful form of truth distinct from strict factual accuracy. Big Fish's combination of Burton's distinctive visual fantasy sensibility and its unusually sincere emotional core, less common in his broader filmography, made it one of the director's most critically well-received films outside his more typically recognized gothic aesthetic register.
VS
Labyrinth
Labyrinth, released in 1986 and directed by Jim Henson, follows a teenage girl who must navigate a magical, puzzle-filled labyrinth to rescue her baby brother from the Goblin King, and David Bowie's performance as the Goblin King, including several original songs he wrote for the film, gave the fantasy adventure a distinctive musical dimension. The film's elaborate puppet creatures, created by Henson's Creature Shop using the same practical effects techniques developed for The Muppets and Henson's earlier film The Dark Crystal, gave Labyrinth's fantastical world a tactile, handmade visual quality distinct from computer-generated fantasy creatures. Despite its now-substantial cult following, Labyrinth was a significant box-office disappointment upon its original 1986 release, a commercial failure that reportedly discouraged Henson from pursuing similarly ambitious fantasy filmmaking projects for the remainder of his career before his death in 1990. The film's slow-building cult reputation, developed substantially through home video and cable television reruns in the years following its theatrical disappointment, has made Labyrinth one of the most frequently cited examples of a fantasy film whose critical and popular reputation grew significantly after its initial commercial failure.
Next battle
Full comparison
About Big Fish
About Labyrinth
Popular Battles
1984 vs. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
1 votes
Friends vs. Curb Your Enthusiasm
1 votes
Ideogram vs. Sora
1 votes
Navy Pier vs. Bishop Museum
1 votes
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree vs. Skittles
1 votes
George Carlin vs. Oprah Winfrey
1 votes
