The Curious Case of Benjamin Button review (DVD release May 5th)

For those of you who are waiting to buy your own copy of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (or perhaps rent it to see it for the first time), don’t forget that it comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray May 5th.

A PR contact at Paramount was kind enough to contact me a few weeks ago to offer me an advance copy of the movie to watch and review. It came last week and I was finally able to devote some time to watching it last night. Since I had been unable to see it in theaters because of where I live (we usually get movies in both languages, but my nearest theater only showed it in dubbed French so I skipped it), I was very happy to get a chance to see it after waiting for so long.

At the risk of stating the obvious, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an absolutely fantastic movie. The filming is beautiful, the story is inspiring and manages to be heart-warming and gut-wrenching at the same time, and the acting on all parts is wonderful. Brad plays Benjamin so convincingly, but he’s not alone. All the major roles were perfectly played. I loved Taraji P. Henson so very much, she was the epitome of a loving mother, and Cate Blanchett as Daisy was one of the best casting decisions ever. Tilda Swinton had a fabulous role as well. He wasn’t talked about very often in all the articles written about the movie, but Jared Harris as Captain Mike was one of my favorite characters.

This is most definitely not an action movie in any way. The only action in it is in a very short two-minute scene during the war. This is the kind of movie that simply tells a beautiful story. It’s a fairly long film, coming in at almost three hours, but in all honesty I never noticed the time. At one point I looked up at the counter on my DVD player and couldn’t believe it was already an hour and a half in because it didn’t even feel like an hour had passed yet.

I love when a movie can bring out different emotions, and this one definitely did. There are moments where I laughed and moments where I cried, and in between I was just in awe of both this wonderful character, Benjamin, and of Brad for playing the role so well.

As far as effects go, everything I’d heard was true. It was flawless. The hints of Brad under all the makeup as an old man (an old man who was really only seven years old) were shocking. When he started to turn into the Brad Pitt we know now, all I could think was how he is such an incredibly beautiful man. While Brad hasn’t aged as much as his character yet, time has definitely been kind to him because he just looks better and better as he gets older. What I wasn’t prepared for was when Benjamin gets older yet looks so much younger than he is. I hadn’t realized that they used makeup and effect to make Brad look younger as well – do you remember the Pringles commercial he did? At one point in the movie he looks like that again and it’s just… well, it’s stunning really to see that in present day

The overall message in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is inspiring. Even when parts of it get sad, it’s still uplifting. The whole moral of the story is that we need to take control of our lives and do whatever it is that we want to do most, be the people we want to be, and that we can do that at any time, no matter where we are age-wise.

When it was over, all I could really do was keep saying, “wow” over and over. It was almost midnight when it finished and I have to get up at 6:30 during the week, so I didn’t have a chance to watch any of the bonus features yet. However, the DVD also comes with the option to watch the movie with David Fincher’s commentary. There’s a second disc too, which contains behind-the-scenes of the visual effects and makeup, a step-by-step look at Brad’s aging process, interviews, still galleries, and the creative process that Fincher uses on set. I love bonus features so I’m eager to watch some of them!

Also, for those who are curious (no pun intended!), the Shiloh scene happens around 2:20.

I can’t recommend this movie strongly enough, I think everyone should see it. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a timeless – literally, in this case – story of love and life. The love story between Benjamin and Daisy is so beautiful that it just might even make the most cynical person believe.

Are you buying the DVD?

Images: Newscom