by David Moromisato

Created on: May 16, 2009

How would you cope with life if you were born an old person and lived your existence backwards to infancy? That's the premise of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This story could have gone in many different directions and challenged itself with endless philosophical and moral dilemmas but it chose to go the more mundane and less ordinary route as we watch an aged man become less wise as he chronologically gets older despite physically getting younger. The close to 3 hour film is entertaining but lacks the highs and lows that helps any good tale move along. You may find many similarities to "Forest Gump" and rightly so as it's written by the same screen writer; but an old story rehashed isn't necessarily better and in this case, there's nothing gripping about this movie that will leave you yearning for more.

The story aside, there's brilliant acting by Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt and Taraji P. Henson, although I question Julie Ormond playing the daughter (I still see her as Pitt's scorned lover in "Legends of the Fall"). There are spectacular special effects that transform a geriatric Brad Pitt into a believable onscreen character. You sense a spiritual connection between Daisy (Cate Blanchett) and Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) that lets you set aside the more awkward visual of a old man and a minor falling in love. Brad Pitt is able to convey the bright eyed enthusiasm of a child behind the wrinkled capsule of his body but there's one major emotion that's missing which didn't allow me to feel complete remorse for Benjamin Button. I imagine its because he was raised in an old age home and death was always surrounding him that he is unable to shed any tears or experience ultimate longing even when he loses those closest to him. But sadness isn't an emotion that gets lost as we age rather it becomes a feeling that intensifies as we come to grips with our own mortality. Even during Button's foster mother's funeral, we aren't able to witness the grief felt upon losing the only person who's loved you unconditionally. This same pain is also absent when Button decides to leave his wife and baby (for the sake of causing undue burden) at the most pivotal point in a family's growth. Chronologically, Button leaves his family somewhere around 40 years old but the act was something I'd expect more from an irresponsible 17 year old. Despite his promise to Daisy about not wanting her to take care of 2 children, she eventually ends up caring for him as senility sets in during his adolescence. Blanchett does a superb job of emanating a controlled love for someone who doesn't remember who she is and what they've shared. The audience gets to feel palpable pain knowing that the end is inevitable for our film's hero.

If you enjoyed "Forest Gump", you may enjoy this movie but know that the pace and humor are just not there. This isn't a love story for the ages (No pun intended) as it lacks the type of passion and wrought lust of "The Notebook". If you can sit through 2 and half hours of a well told and well directed film and explore the conjectures of your own mortality than this is probably the right movie for you. I imagine if you loved "Meet Joe Black", another Pitt movie, you'll love this film as well. Even though the film is titled "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", no one in the film really questions the mysteriousness of the title character's condition. So the more appropriate curiosity might be around why Benjamin Button acts so selfishly as he should be wiser and more clever in his old age.

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