A brilliant movie, a new addition to my favorite films of all time.

Rating: 9/10 (19 February 2012)

My first time watching Forrest Gump was this past Saturday, and I left my media room feeling, well, Gumpish. Meaning, I felt like I was Forrest Gump. I talked to my brother in a sort of Forrest Gump accent, and when we went downstairs to discuss the movie like we usually do, we felt it was proper to get out what else than a box of chocolates. Now, hearing quotes from this film my whole life, I knew I had to see this movie soon. After weeks of waiting for it to arrive from Blockbuster, I finally got it on Blu-ray. That night though, we were gonna watch Chronicle, a new movie that seemed pretty cool to watch. My father said fine, but my brother said he'd rather not waste another day from Forrest Gump, for he wanted to get this film over with so he could have felt that same sensation that almost everyone else in America has felt. So we went home, popped in the disc, and started to watch. And it was definitely at my high expectations. At the end, I had experienced Forrest Gump, and I can only say one thing; I was pleased. Yes indeed, Forrest Gump was fantastic film, with great acting and a great story just like everyone had told me so. Tom Hanks blew me away as a sort of "disabled", you could say, man who spends his whole life wanting one girl named Jenny, his childhood sweetheart. Not many words can describe the brilliancy in his acting, but the fact that he won for Best Lead Actor at the Academy Awards should some it up. The many adventures he had running through America, fighting in the Vietnamese war, hopping into China to play ping-pong, raising a shrimp fishing empire, and especially chasing the girl of his dreams made this film fully brilliant and gave Tom Hanks a chance to take his character to full heights. My favorite part about the film, though, had to be Lieutenant Dan Taylor. Gay Sinise played his role, and received an Academy Award nomination for his role, and definitely deserved it. I wasn't expecting a character like his anywhere in this film, for he was so dark and corrupted later in the film. He first arrives in my favorite part of the film, in the Vietnam war which had an epic battle scene. Over there, he was supposed to die with honor, but Forrest Gump saves his life from the hand of war, and Taylor loses his legs. Throughout the film, he lives of booze and regrets his life and hates Gump, but later learn to work together. A strange friendship is made, and that is another beautiful part of this film. The editing in this film was spectacular, for there are many scenes in which Gump arrives in famous footage of America. The only problem I had was the dubbing, for that was bit off and edgy. I also felt the film was bit unrealistic at parts, like when he's child and he starts to run and suddenly his back is fixed. The only explanation for that in the whole film was that it was a "miracle". Also some parts were unnecessary and only for comedic use in such an epic, broad film, and it kind of ruins the moment. This film, though, still was at the height of my expectations. But it wasn't any higher, just perfect, so I kinda already knew how I was supposed to feel at the end of the movie; emotional. The only problem though was that I didn't feel very emotionally invested in the film at all, and just looked at it from a sense of enjoyment. So, that's why this film deserves a 9. It was very good at many aspects except a few, but if it wanted to get a 10, it should've felt me emotionally, which it didn't.
In the end, Forrest Gump is a masterpiece with great acting, excellent character development, and a broad plot line, but not much emotional feel(depends on whose watching, though) and a few flaws. All in all, this is an excellent film of the 90s and a story to behold.
9/10 A