Excellent movie...hesistant to give it a 10

Rating: 10/10 (11 January 2004)

Big Fish is a rare film that surprised me, in all actuality. I was expecting typical Burton moviemaking, and saw what I consider to be an exceptionally moving film. (As an aside, I will never understand why the Hollywood Foreign Press nominated it as a comedy, but I digress).
I admit that I was bored a bit throughout the movie, and slightly annoyed when people laughed at comical events that were more moving that comical. However, as the movie concluded, I looked around and noticed not a single dry eye in the movie theater. I'm a 23 year old male and I've cried while seeing two movies in my life (Life is Beautiful and Big Fish). Take that for what it is.
My main concern with the movie is the southern accents and picturesque story of Alabama. As a northern transplant going to school in GA, I will admit that the southern accents were not spot-on. However, if I had never lived in the South, I never would have noticed this and would have viewed the movie a bit differently. I think that northerners have a "story" version of the South that is much different than the lived experienced of the South. I prefer the "story" version and that is what you get from start to finish in this excellent movie.
I urge people to see the movie if you have an enormously strong connection with your father or you are slightly emotionally disconnected from your father. This movie will move you in a way that I was not expecting, even after reading numerous reviews of the movie.
9.6/10 = A