'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' Movie Review

Brad Pitt and director David Fincher prove their first two collaborative efforts weren't flukes with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a mesmerizing fantasy tale based loosely on a short story by F Scott Fitzgerald. Fincher got the best out of Pitt in Fight Club and Se7en, and in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button he takes one of the handsomest actors on the planet, makes him age to 80, and gets from him the performance of his career.

Other actors were used for scenes of Pitt as a tiny old man in this intriguing tale of reverse aging, and the only body part of Pitt's performing in those scenes is his face (which was seamlessly inserted in place of other actors' faces). And oh what that face can do… As a wrinkly, shriveled up 80 year old, Pitt's face is just as captivating to watch as when he plays Benjamin as a gorgeous hunk in his early 20s. There's so much going on in his eyes, it makes you want to control the camera to zoom in on those expressive baby blues.

The Story

Fitzgerald lifted the premise of his story from a quote attributed to Mark Twain: "Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18." The Curious Case of Benjamin Button screenwriter Eric Roth follows Fitzgerald and Twain's musings, focusing on a special man who ages backwards.

The film begins with Benjamin Button's birth in New Orleans in 1918. His mother dies in childbirth and his father (Jason Flemyng), upon seeing Benjamin's ancient crinkly face, races from the house in horror with the bizarre baby cradled in his arms. He leaves the newborn on the stairs of a nursing home run by Queenie (Taraji P Henson), a practical woman with a lot of love to give.

Although the doctors believe Benjamin's time on earth will be short, Benjamin proves everyone wrong. Under Queenie's care, he progresses from the size of a newborn into a short, misshapen elderly man who looks to be in his 80s, which makes him fit right in with the real senior citizens who come to the nursing home to live out their final days. Benjamin's accepted by the elderly folk who reside at the home, and in fact it's one of the residents who introduces Benjamin to the young girl who will become the great love of his life. Daisy (played as a youngster by Elle Fanning and in later years by Cate Blanchett) is an intelligent, free-spirited girl who feels an immediate bond with Benjamin, despite what appears on the surface to be a great difference in their ages. With Daisy, Benjamin can play and act like a child - albeit a child whose body shows all the classic signs of old age.

As Benjamin grows ever-so-slowly younger, he begins to long for a life outside the walls of the nursing home. Feeling his oats, Benjamin signs on to a tugboat and discovers much about the world. Still, Daisy's always on his mind. And after overcoming impossible odds, the two do reconnect at a point in their lives where his body is physically close in age to hers. Their love has endured for years, but as Benjamin continues his backwards journey through life, he remains firm in the belief that nothing lasts forever.

The Cast

Enough can't be said about what Pitt brings to Benjamin Button. Pitt spends the majority of the movie under heavy 'aging' make-up and yet is able to play the character with a child-like sense of wonder and zeal that's simply dazzling to behold. Cate Blanchett is also terrific as the woman who has hold of Benjamin's heart. The two are playing soul mates and it's a thoroughly believable, entrancing relationship they develop on screen over the course of the two hour and 45 minute film.

Taraji P Henson never expected to be playing Brad Pitt's mom in a film and joked about being cast in that peculiar role at the film's Los Angeles press day. "My lesson is, be very specific in what you ask for. I said I wanted work with Brad Pitt. God, I found out, has a wicked sense of humor. 'Oh, you want to work with Brad Pitt? Play his momma.'" As strange as the idea is of playing mother to megastar Pitt in a film, it's a role that will surely go down as Henson's breakthrough performance. It's also one she'll likely wind up pointing to as, when looking back over her acting credits, a pivotal role in her career. Henson's Queenie is a woman who accepts people as they are, and someone who's accustomed to living with death. As such she's the perfect person to watch over and love Benjamin, and Henson is the perfect actress to play Queenie.

The Bottom Line

I sat through The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and never once wondered how they pulled off Benjamin as an old man. So caught up was I in the story that the technology behind what I was seeing never entered my mind. There's so much depth and beauty to this fantastic love story that it's possible to be so absorbed in the movie you never consider analyzing what's on the screen.

Screenwriter Eric Roth took the premise of Fitzgerald's story and crafted a fantasy film the likes of which we haven't seen since Forrest Gump which, by the way, Roth adapted from Winston Groom's novel. The result, in David Fincher's capable hands, is a romantic, gentle, and magical movie. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a one-of-a kind film that envelops the audience in an enchanted world filled with interesting characters. And Benjamin Button's world is one that deserves visiting time and time again.

GRADE: A

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was directed by David Fincher and is rated PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking.

Theatrical Release Date: December 25, 2008