A good movie but far away from the excellence

Rating: 7/10 (7 February 2009)

I generally start watching very long movies with distrust,because various of them try to betray us,making their story unnecessarily longer than what it should be to cover fails from the screenplay or the simple fact that they do not know what to say.On the other hand,there are long movies we wish they would never end,because every second makes the previous one richer and the characters become on something like old friends from the spectator.I think The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is on some intermediate point.This is a good movie,I do not deny it,but it is far away from the excellence and,although I liked it,it has various fails.The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tried to be a version of Forrest Gump for 2008.The main characters of both movies see the world from a different sensibility and they also have a physical condition which makes them different to the people they interact with.And what The Curious Case of Benjamin Button also shares with Forrest Gump is the very good manufacture.On this movie,director David Fincher shows a deep attention to the details, and the special effects are excellent,not only because they are perfectly done,but also because they work as a support for telling the story.I also appreciated on this movie that the narration from the voice of the main character results likable and appropriately subtle.But,at the difference of Forrest Gump,the main character results too bland.I mean,there is nothing which makes us emotionally connect to him.I think that the screenplay failed in constructing a deep character.Besides,this movie occasionally falls on cheap sentimentalism which was unnecessary.The consequence is that that moments do not feel honest...they feel forced.And there are various parts on this movie which felt irrelevant.On that parts,it seemed the film was going nowhere.I think the best element from this movie are the performances.Brad Pitt made a good work but I think the best performances are on the supporting cast.I usually like the work of actress Cate Blanchett very much and she did an excellent work in here.But I think the member of the cast who mostly stands out is Tilda Swinton.She completely becomes on her character and she could perfectly transmit all her emotions.Taraji P. Henson (who had left me astonished with her performance on Hustle and Flow),Jared Harris and Julia Ormond also bring solid works.I did not totally understand the main point from this movie...is it a romance?,is it a magic fable?,or is it simply a collection of vignettes without too much meaning,made with the only porpoise of winning Oscars?.I honestly do not know.I think it is a little bit of all that.The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a good movie but it is far away from the excellence.Although I liked this movie,it did not result very memorable to me.