Brad Pitt is cute as "Button"

I went to see "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and, on the whole, I enjoyed it. It is a much more melancholy movie than "Forrest Gump," a movie that it is often compared to and, at nearly three hours, it is long - but not overly so. It is as long as it needs to be. And "Button" is often like that - all it needs to be - but seldomly more. It doesn't soar as "Gump" did and it feels derivative: Gump's braces are Button's old man wheelchair and double canes; "Lieutenant Dan" meet "Cap'n Mike"; Cate Blanchett's Daisy is Button's Jenny. That said, "Button" is an oddly affecting movie that stays with you long after the theater lights have come back on. (By the by, I would like to give a special shout out to Taraji P. Henson's performance as Button's "mother." This is a small jewel of a performance by an actress who is proving herself to be an artist with many colors on her palette. From "Baby Boy" to "Button" is quite a journey).