Excellent special effects and acting, but the boring storytelling techniques turned me away.

Rating: 7/10 (6 February 2009)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button nominated for numerous Oscars including Best Picture. It is about the life of man named Benjamin (Brad Pitt) who is born in the 1920s. However instead of looking like a regular baby, Benjamin looks like an old man as an infant because of some strange disorder. He is abandoned by his parents and ends up in the care of a pair of retirement home employees. They raise him through his young years as he begins to take his first steps at age 7, meets a beautiful girl named Daisy, and learns a lot about life. Soon Benjamin leaves off to fight in World War II, and afterwards starts a life on his own. As the years go on he begins to realize that he starts looking younger, as his actual age increases. Eventually he again meets up with Daisy (Cate Blanchett), who is now a matured young woman, and begins a relationship with her. As Benjamin gets younger, Daisy gets older. But the love between them only gets stronger.
This movie has gotten strong critical praise, excellent word-of-mouth, and many Oscar nominations. While there are many things I liked about this movie, there were still a lot of things I did not like about it. Brad Pitt gives a great, nuanced performance that constantly changes and shifts in interesting directions as the character changes. In fact I think most of the performances in this film were good. Cate Blanchett gives a good performance as usual, and Taraji P. Henson also gives an amazing performance as the woman that took care of Benjamin in his early years. The special effects on the way they age Brad Pitt was masterfully done, very convincing, and really make the film memorable. The best effects were when he was an old man, middle aged, and around his 30s and 40s. They also do a good job making Pitt look a very young teenaged guy. Besides the facial effects the cinematography and sets in this movie were amazing. They really helped give the movie a strong sense of atmosphere. I also liked how the lighting changes as the mood of the film changes.
Besides the acting, cinematography, lighting, and special effects, I really didn't care much for the storytelling. The story was interesting but it got very dull after Benjamin goes from being an old man to a middle-aged man. After that the story got boring and the movie became tedious. The movie takes way too long to tell its story, and also takes it way too slow during certain scenes that I found no interest in. Benjamin begins having an affair with a married woman (Tilda Swinton) at one point, which takes way too long. This segment was completely pointless in my opinion, and really didn't help movie the story in any way. The love between Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett was a major part of the story, but as it went on you knew from the beginning that it would only end badly. I thought this would really enrich the film and help give it a great, tragic ending. I was completely wrong. The movie ends very stupidly and in the worst possible way. I sat through over two and a half hours for an ending like this (I won't spoil it)! I know the story could really only end one way, but there were plenty of storytelling techniques that could have made the ending better and more satisfying.
In the end I enjoyed the acting, characters, cinematography, and strong visual effects. But the storytelling is what really turned me away from the film. The storytelling is too bland, boring, and uninteresting. For a movie that is over two and a half hours that's a really bad thing. The visual effects make the film memorable, and the story is good, but without a way to interest the viewer then what's the point? The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ends up very unsatisfying and anti-climactic, and it was plain disappointing.