The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: a Review

I am way behind on my blogging.  The TSMs have been doing funny things and playing with real TSMs, but instead of telling you about that today, I’m going to review a movie for you.

While home for the holidays, my sister and I went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  Overall we both liked it.  It was a fun movie to watch for a variety of reasons.  The acting was good, which you’d expect from Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt and Julia Ormond.  The special effects were special — in the good way. 

It was amazing to see how believably they made both Pitt (45) and Blanchett (39) both drastically younger and older than their actual ages.  Okay, so older isn’t that big a deal, they’ve been doing that in movies forever.  But younger?  Seeing Pitt apparently in his late-teens or early 20s, was a freaky blast from the past for those of us who remember his baby face from Thelma and Louise.  And in the scene where Blanchett’s character Daisy is auditioning for a dance company she actually looks 20!  When will this technology be available to the rest of us?!  That’s what I want to know.  They’d make a fortune on the Button cosmetics and body care line. 

You’ll have noticed by now that I have not touched on the actual storyline.  That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the first thing my sister and commented to each other about the movie was: “That was a lot like Forrest Gump.”  Aside from the aging backward bit, there are many parallels as follows.   Hidden for spoilers — highlight text if you want to see:

Gump	Button
“Life is like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you’re gonna get.” Feather Loves a promiscuous party-girl he’s known since childhood Finally gets girl when she can’t party anymore Gains a vast fortune through shrimping Leaves for years of soul-searching through running	“You never know what’s comin’ for you.” Hummingbird Loves a promiscuous dancer he’s known since childhood Finally gets girl when she can’t dance anymore Gains a vast fortune through buttons Leaves for years of soul-searching through backpacking the Himalayas (like a flashback from Seven Years in Tibet)

Not to say that everything is the same, but there are certainly enough similarities to  make you scratch your head.  Which is kind of a shame.  Benjamin Button is based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, which means that Forest Gump is probably the derivative work even though it came out 14 years earlier.  Benjamin Button is a somewhat darker tale

 

My final recommendation?  If you haven’t seen Forrest Gump, go see Benjamin Button.  If you saw Forrest Gump and you thought it all seemed too easy, go see Benjamin Button.  If you saw Forrest Gump and only like happy endings, rent Benjamin Button when it’s available.  But you should see it, either way.  It’s not a perfect movie, but I appreciated the honesty of how the characters reacted differently to challenges.

~ by quiregirl on January 2, 2009.