movie thoughts: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

[orangerful]

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button [Theatrical Release]

For me, this movie was an example of a good idea.  A very cool idea.  But a cool idea does not a great movie make. 

If you don't already know, 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' is about a man who is born old.  At birth he has arthritis, cataracts, and deafness.  The doctor doesn't expect him to live. But this is a folk tale, so magic happens and Benjamin grows younger each day. 

The problem facing the film's writers is that they have decided to show one man's entire life in 3 hours.  80 years in 3 hours.  That's a lot of time to cover, and not a lot lying around for character development.  This was the biggest disappointment for me.  Not at any point in this movie did I cry.  I just saw a man's entire life play out, yet when the end came, I was left with a sort of "eh" feeling.  I just never felt for him, I had no connection to him. 

Also, we spent the entire movie building up the love story - waiting for Benjamin and Cate Blanchet's character to finally sync up and be the "perfect" age together.  But when that time finally comes, all we get is a montage of them hanging out.  But you can't blame the filmmakers, at that point you're been watching the movie for over 2 hours and the excitement of the moment just isn't there. 

And there was also some sort of metaphor going on with Hurricane Katrina that just went away.  I kept waiting for the big "oooh that's what it was all about" moment but instead it felt so "oooh this will make it relevant" in a really "meh" kinda way. 

In the end, it was an interesting experiment.  It reminded me of 'Forrest Gump' - lots of great special effects, and the main character touches many people's lives, but in the end, the main character is the least interesting character.  If felt like it could have been so much more than the Oscar clip reel for next year, because that is what it feels like (I'm guessing a nomination for best picture, best actor, best special effects at the very least). 

Originally posted on orangerful.vox.com

Comments

[jellibean.livejournal.com]

Have you read the book? My dad got really excited about this movie cause it's a Fitzgerald novel... maybe it would be better than the movie? :)

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I have not read it. It's actually a novella/short story. We got it in at the library and it's only 64 pages (and, of course it is set around F. Scott's time, ending in the 1920s, which is where the movie pretty much starts)

I'm curious about the book. There's also a new graphic novel version that just came out that was on Very Short List.

[ekaterin24.livejournal.com]

You know, your review bears out the impression I got from the promo trailer on TV.

You write excellent movie reviews. Thank you!

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I've been trying to apply what I learned in my Children's Lit course - we had to write book reviews every other week. It was a lot of fun!

Wish this movie had been better though!

[bittertwee.livejournal.com]

The review I read said pretty much the same thing- Interesting idea, dragged out over waayyy too long of a movie. Especially since (said the review) nothing much happens beyond Brad Pitt aging backwards, and everyone knows about that going in. I'm intrigued that it's a Fitzgerald novel, though. I guess these days you have to assume that every movie's ripped off from something..

I'm not really grabbed by any of the Oscar contenders this year, except Slumdog Millionaire, which I loved. Have you seen it yet?

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

I was really surprised by the raving reviews I read over at Rotten Tomatoes. It has a really high rating on that site, which is why we saw it. It wasn't bad, it was just very "meh". It was hard for me to feel strongly about it either way, but other people I have spoken to say it is the best movie they have ever seen and they want to watch it again.

No I have not seen 'Slumdog Millionaire' - I did put it on the Netflix list though! So eventually! :)