Nothing lasts, except love. That's the moral of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,"" and throughout the nearly three-hour experience, the film attempts to show the impermanence of life, the importance of love and the freakiness of an arthritic baby.
The movie is very loosely based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and it tells the life of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), who is born on the last day of World War I as an old man, complete with corneas, arthritis and loose, wrinkly skin. Accordingly, as everyone around him ages the normal way, Benjamin gets younger. The main focus of the movie is the love story between Benjamin and Daisy (Cate Blanchett), who fall in love when they are children and ""meet in the middle"" when they appear the same age.
There aren't many bad things to say about the film. The screenplay by Eric Roth (""Forrest Gump"") is excellent, as is the directing, which is a welcome change of heart for the twisted David Fincher (""Fight Club,"" ""Zodiac"").
But the real star of the movie is the special effects department. In an attempt to make the story as realistic as possible, the crew used cutting-edge CGI techniques to impose Brad Pitt's head on various bodies, so he could appear any age from a baby-sized old man to a baby-faced teenager. And despite this tall order, the effects in no way distract from the storytelling. Rather, they enhance it, allowing the viewer to feel as if they have truly seen Benjamin grow up (or down?), which makes the story all the more compelling.
This is not to suggest that the movie is all visual tricks. The story is character-driven at its heart, and all the actors do their part to bring this improbable tale to life. Brad Pitt is, of course, excellent at every age, and he brings a surprising amount of humor to the overall depressing film.
Similarly, Cate Blanchett gives Daisy a certain charm, and is almost unrecognizable on her deathbed while telling Benjamin's story to her daughter. Relative newcomer Taraji P. Henson is perfect as the mother who takes Benjamin in, looking past his disgusting looks as an elderly baby. And Tilda Swinton is heartbreaking as an unhappily married, ""plain-looking"" woman Benjamin has a brief affair with in Russia who has a much larger impact on his life than expected.
The one problem the movie suffers from is its length. With a running time over two hours and 45 minutes, it runs the risk of losing any part of the audience that isn't in the right mood for a long-winded pace. The length, however, is understandable considering it strives to show the entire 80-year span of one man's life, encompassing everything from both World Wars all the way to Hurricane Katrina. But at times, the film does linger a little too long on certain moments of Benjamin's life.
Despite the movie compromising its own aforementioned moral by ""lasting"" just a little too long, it is nonetheless an enjoyable story about love, death and babies with dementia that is easily worth the time commitment involved in a couple viewings.
Grade: AB
