Born 80 years old, Benjamin Button Brad Pitt ages backward over time. Weak and wrinkled as a toddler, unlined and unencumbered as a grandfather, his is a life that moves against everyone else's current -- including that of Queenie Taraji P. Henson , the African-American servant who finds him abandoned on the steps of a New Orleans nursing home and mothers him, and Daisy Cate Blanchett , the love of his life, who's a young girl when they first meet.
As Benjamin hurtles toward the moment when he and Daisy can finally meet as equals in the middle of life, he makes friends, takes to the seas, and falls in love with a British expatriate Tilda Swinton. But it's Daisy he ultimately seeks, despite the challenges that loom when they must continue their journey in preordained -- and sadly opposite -- directions. Scott Fitzgerald, has a compelling, haunting plot. Watching it is an emotional experience, despite it's meandering pace it could have -- should have -- been made leaner to make it even stronger.
Director David Fincher , collaborating with Pitt for the third time, takes advantage of technological wizardry to move the story forward without letting the tricks overwhelm the story. This isn't a film that stands on the shoulders of special-effects gimmickry. Like the Oscar-winning Forrest Gump which also broke ground with its techno wizardry , Benjamin Button has a living, beating heart.
A wistful awareness of mortality, and of the clock ticking ceaselessly toward an inevitable end, looms over everything. Benjamin is a splendidly written character, and Pitt plays him tenderly, juggling melancholy and hope, sometimes all at once. And Blanchett is the perfect complement; a tempest who finds her way with grace. Their affair makes for an extraordinary love story. Families can talk about the movie's messages. What is it attempting to say about life, love and death?
Are these messages relatable, even though the basic premise is pure fantasy? Do you think this movie could have been made without advanced special effects and computer techniques?
How is this movie different from other Hollywood films, especially those that rely on more obvious effects? Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
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Parents' Ultimate Guide to Support our work! Corona Column 3 Use these free activities to help kids explore our planet, learn about global challenges, think of solutions, and take action. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Movie review by S. Jhoanna Robledo , Common Sense Media. Parents recommend Popular with kids. Compelling drama takes on big life questions.
PG minutes. Rate movie. Watch or buy. Based on 20 reviews. Based on 45 reviews. Get it now Searching for streaming and purchasing options Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free. Get it now on Searching for streaming and purchasing options Did you know Edit. Trivia The hummingbird is the only bird in the world that can fly backwards.
Hurricanes spin counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. These, among other "backward" motifs involving clocks and so on, tie in with the major thematic elements related to Benjamin Button living life in reverse.
Goofs In when Daisy and Benjamin are having dinner, Daisy is smoking a filter cigarette. Filter cigarettes were not available until several years later. Quotes Benjamin Button : You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. Crazy credits The Paramount and Warner Bros.
User reviews 1K Review. Top review. Coldness and Warmth. The curious saga of a man ageing backwards, gives Fincher the possibility of doing what he does best, tricks. It is the drama part that he doesn't seem to master or perhaps he doesn't care.
Here he gets infatuated by the CGI and manages some spectacular punches but it is thanks to Brad Pitt the the exercise has a soul. He is truly remarkable. He manages to overcome the distraction of the gadgetry and show us the interior of the man. Brad Pitt's warmth wins over David Fincher's coldness and the most successful parts of the film are reflected in Brad Pitt's eyes.
Geared towards an inexorable ending, there are moments of real beauty and tenderness. I'm convinced those moments could have been captured with a Super 8. The over direction of Fincher puts the emotional undertone in real jeopardy but, thankfully, the overall experience is mostly a welcome and rewarding one. FAQ Is it possible to read Fitzgerald's story online? How closely does the movie follow Fitzgerald's story?
Details Edit. Release date December 25, United States. United States. Official Facebook Official site Japan.
Netflix added a forgotten gem to its collection this past May. I remember the buzz that this movie generated when it first came out in Television networks aired it so often that I was able to watch it a few times, though I never quite understood why adults grew so silent and contemplative at the end.
I was old enough to understand that many of the characters had passed away, which could explain the silence. But other movies with similar death tolls did not have the same, sullen effect that Benjamin Button had on adults.
Upon watching the movie for the first time in my 20s, I finally began to understand why the story leaves audiences in a melancholy, catatonic state, and it has nothing to do with death.
On the contrary, it had everything to do with life. Benjamin Button is loosely based upon a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who — in a letter to his editor, Harold Ober — sullenly acknowledged that he would be remembered for his flapper stories, like The Great Gatsby , and not his other works.
In Tales of the Jazz Age , Fitzgerald mentions that the idea for Benjamin Button came from a remark made by Mark Twain about how unfortunate it is that the best part of life is the beginning and the worst part is the end. In the short story, Benjamin Button is born as an old man and dies as a baby in a crib. Throughout his life, he encounters many obstacles regarding the discrepancy between his age and his appearance. When he presents himself at the base, his superiors laugh and send him back home.
The best part of his life is seemingly the very middle, when he looks like a college student. Yet, arguably the biggest difference is the take on romance. After a few years, she grows older and her beauty fades.
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