Nice- But not the best movie of the year

Rating: 7/10 (23 January 2009)

Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Its an interesting idea. And it has little funny moments, and others of true poignancy.
( VERY minor spoiler in the paragraph ahead ) Some of it feels like dead air, but the movie is interspersed with occasional strokes of genius-- The scene of little insignificant events that led to Daisy's accident, the "struck by lightening seven times" parts and Benjamin's letter to his daughter are all nothing short of perfection.
But the film, on a whole, was less than perfect. The characters lacked complexity and some subplots seemed unresolved. It simply failed to move me, or make an impression. I felt like the special effects and cinematography, while they were great, were running away with the picture, dragging the actors and director behind them.
I recommend The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. But it is not the best film of the year, and its not even the best work of Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchette, Eric Roth or David Fincher.