The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is worth seeing for several reasons. Beyond strong performances from Brad Pitt and Kate Blanchette this tale, based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, leaves you with a great deal to ponder. The main character Benjamin Button, is born with an horrific condition whereby his body at birth ressembled that of an eighty five year old man. If this premise wasn't unlikely enough, the additional twist that Benjamin Button does not age with the passage of time but instead grows younger, sets up the audience for this truly amazing story. The fact that it somehow remains plausible is a testement to the wonderful writing and memorable chemistry between these two fine actors.

I found myself at various points in this film wondering how a story like this might really play out if it were to happen. Finally it occurred to me that what attracted me to Benjamin Button's story was the continuing sense of discovery and joy that seemed to animate almost every point of his life. Unlike people who as they age become, to one degree or another, weary of life's ups and downs; Benjamin Button seemed to meet the implausible challenges of his own life with a quiet sense of amazement and wonder at how special the experience of life really is.

It may be more than a stretch for most of us to superimpose our own lives into the character of Benjamin Button. However the inexplicable circumstances that led to his abnormal birth should not be entirely strange to a people who have themselves been reborn, which is itself a most unlikely circumstance.