Review of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) by Alex C — 11 Feb 2015

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is certainly an interesting subject matter, but I don't think I was ever able to relate to either of the main characters. It was like the camera was always on the outside looking in, and never gave a glimpse of their true selves.

Maybe a character who ages backwards is impossible to relate to by nature, but I don't think that's the case. On a character level, Benjamin just wasn't trying to do anything particularly compelling. Yeah, he lead an interesting life, but many people lead interesting lives.

The three characters who I thought had the most compelling stories were the man who built the clock that moves backwards, Benjamin's father who rejected him and always regretted it, and the woman who finally swam the English Channel. But those were all minor characters.

On a technical level, the film is well shot, though in the early parts of the film, when Benjamin is an old man, I could never escape the sensation that his face was computer animated.