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A review of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I really don’t know where to start with this movie, it’s incredible on so many levels—though not without flaws—so it’s intimidating to try to do the movie justice.
Let’s start with the first act, I really feel like this first act is the strongest part of the movie. Benjamin is incredible, I’ve seen many amazing CG humans before but nothing lives up the the level of Benjamin as a physically old man, so much so that I’ve seen many animators who were shocked that it was a digital character for much of the beginning of the movie. This also must have posed some pretty large challenges for the actors to act to with the warmth, surprise and horror of the baby bold so very old, not to mention the incredible editing work they did as well.
From a story perspective, I think this was the part of the film that most resonated with me. Seeing Benjamin grow up mentally while getting younger physically was I think the juxtaposition was at it’s most drastic. I loved the absurdity of such a young person visiting a brothel and having his first drink while everyone around him thought him so old. I also loved Daisy’s reaction to him, understanding his personality and maturity when no one else seamed to know how to treat him. I was mesmerized though this entire first act.
Then Benjamin started to grow up, get physically stronger and the arks converge, the story continued to be very interesting. I loved the subplot with Tilda Swinton, it was so awkward and subtle with new emotions waking in Benjamin. In the end though, it was just Brad Pitt being Brad Pitt, nothing seemed off and nothing really resonated with me from this part of the film. I only have believed Daisy’s character throughout this section and I defiantly didn’t fully believe Benjamin was the same man he had been growing up.
The third section of the film returned to a more meaningful story for me, at this point I did believe in Daisy, both as a old women and the aging women taking care of Benjamin as he got younger and younger. What I don’t understand is why the director and screenwriter made the decision to make Benjamin’s mind become childlike, to a certain degree I think it makes sense, but his maturity and memories shouldn’t have disappeared that fast in my opinion. But it moved the story forward and completed the two character arcs successfully and left me feeling like I had experienced something whimsical, impossible and ultimately meaningful.
