Enjoy The Entertainment, Don't Read Into This

Rating: 8/10 (25 September 2010)

While this one rates as the premiere performance on film of Tom Hanks, I think one thing that prevents it from being an all time best film is the entertainment factor. Robert Zemekis direction efforts are always solid entertaining films (with the exception of a few of the remakes he has done in recent years which thankfully are getting buried without ceremony).
Tom Hanks is not just Gump in this movie but he is the narrator for pretty much the whole film. If they had stuck with the book this is based on, there would have been a lot of missing drama. Would this movie be as effective if the drama was a lot less? I think it would be. The death of Jenny while making for a dramatic ending does not really add to the film other than making you reach for the hankies.
For a Zemekis film, this one is slower moving than most. It pulls at the heart strings as Gump is presented as a stupid person who lucks into many historic moments by accident. Really, Gump is not stupid, just slow & partnered for much of the film with his commanding officer from the service, a double leg amputee, there is a good chemistry between these characters.
There is the dream girl Jenny. Gump claims to always be thinking of her. Good touches in the film include the party with the girls & the guys where Forrest breaks up the party by complaining that the one girl trying to make out with him tastes like cigarettes. There is the simile of "Life is like a box of chocolates" which is the most quoted line of this movie.
Too many folks don't like the reading of politics into this, so don't look for this. If you just sit back & enjoy the story telling & not look for holes in the plot, then everything is fine. The same applies to the Back To The Future series Zemekis directed. The plots in many of his films are full of holes when you analyze them. So don't do it, why get a headache when you don't need too.