The trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button made the film seem very appealing. It has a great director, good actors, and a very interesting story. It should have been brilliant, but unfortunately this was not  the case. The film failed to meet its potential and was disappointing on many fronts. It goes to show trailers can’t always be trusted, and you probably shouldn’t be tempted to see a movie purely off the back of one. Get more information first, so you don’t make the same mistake I did.

The plot was interesting.  In 1918 a businessman arrives home to find his pregnant wife dying. She has just given birth to the man’s baby and with her last words, she tells her husband to look after their child. He takes one look at the baby though, and with an expression of disgust, seizes the baby, runs out of the house, and leaves the child on a stranger’s doorstep.  What casused this harsh behaviour? Well, the baby is no ordinary looking child. It has  a wrinkled body, failing eyesight and hearing, and shows all the signs of old age. Fortunately for the child, the person who finds him next is more open-minded and believes that all humans deserve love, no matter what shape they take. This kind woman decides to bring Benjamin up and let him live in the home for the elderly that she runs.

Benjamin’s story is told within another story, as his ex-lover Daisy (Cate Blanchett) is dying of old age in hospital and asks her daughter Caroline (Julia Ormond) to read Benjamin’s diary to her. Caroline starts the narrating, and as the film cuts to events in the  past, Benjamin’s voice takes over. The majority of the film covers this past period, as we see Benjamin growing up and his appearance changing dramatically. His body is working backwards, as it is changing from old to young. When he is 7, he looks about 80 and is confined to a wheelchair. People assume he is an old man, but he is merely a child in the body of an old man.  He soon befriends a young girl named Daisy, who is around the same age as him. Her family don’t approve of their friendship though, because Benjamin is seemingly different, and they stop Benjamin from seeing her.

 As the years pass though, and Daisy is growing up, Benjamin finds he is looking younger with each year that passes. Eventually, he and Daisy look the same age and he starts pursuing her. This is not just a romance story though, as Benjamin does many more things with his life. He travels, works on a tug-boat, gets drunk, and visits a brothel. He makes the most of all the time he has, as he had never expected to live a full life.

It’s really a very sweet story, but it just isn’t enjoyable to watch. Everything is done too slowly and it all get a bit tedious. The story unravels at a very slow pace, and even the cast speak rather monotonously. Cate Blanchett, who normally impresses me greatly, came across as rather annoying in this movie and failed to entertain. There were no stand-out performances at all. Tilda Swinton was the most believable character. She had a brief appearance as an elderly lady Benjamin has relations with, but she wasn’t in the film long enough to decrease the feelings of dullness the movie inspired.

To conclude, if the story intrigues you, go out and buy the book, don’t see the movie if you don’t have to.

Dir: David Fincher

Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett