I'm a little torn as to how I feel about this film. I was intrigued by the premise (which is based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald)--a baby is born with the body of an old man and he ages backwards while learning and maturing mentally as normal. It starts off with an old lady telling a story on her deathbed. I wasn't too excited about this, because frankly I feel like this kind of set-up has been done to death (no pun intended). I guess it might not have worked out as well if it was done differently, but I just kept thinking about Saving Private Ryan. The story itself though is very good. The first things you notice are the special effects, which are outstanding. The way they were able to use CGI to realistically make the actors look older (and younger) is amazing--side note: the visual effects were done by the studio my aunt used to work at, so that's cool. It's very strange to see a wrinkly hobbit-esque old man that looks vaguely like Brad Pitt, but the progression you see throughout is what really makes the movie. The story generally plays out as you would expect: he grows younger while everyone that he loves grows older and dies. Along the way, he travels the world and lives through many events which are uniquely experienced given his condition. Pitt gives a great performance and Cate Blanchett does a good job as well, although her character is unlikable at times. There are some touching moments, but my main problem is that ultimately it just doesn't have a deeply resonating message. It feels more like "here's a different kind of person and these are the events in his life." I just feel like it could have been a little more profound. Another thing I feel I must mention is the length. I have no problem with long movies, and I'm sure I have a higher tolerance for slowly-paced films than the average individual (for example I loved Fincher's last film, Zodiac, which had similar complaints), but there are definitely parts within the almost three-hour run time where I felt the movie dragged. Overall, I still enjoyed it and would recommend seeing it, but I don't think it deserves the best picture awards that it will no doubt be in contention for.
3.5/5
