Forever Young was made in arguably Mel Gibson's heyday of the 1990's. It is a warm hearted story of lost love wrapped in a time travel scenario. In truth Mel Gibson holds the whole film together with a strong performance despite the average script he has to work with. It does help that he has good chemistry with Jamie Lee Curtis and Elijah Wood as there characters take up most of the films running time. Joe Morton is wasted in his role near the end and look out for a cameo part for Walton Goggins of The Shield and Justified fame. Forever Young is the perfect Sunday afternoon film, the sort they don't make anymore. The main problems with the film though are the set up and the ending. We do not spend enough time with Gibson and his wife to be in WW2 to be fully invested in there eternal love together, and in the final act of the film after being seemingly ok for a good period of time in the present day Gibson's character starts to age rapidly which then creates a rushed feel to the end of the film. At 1 hour 37 minutes the film feels too short and actually could have done with a longer running time to expand on the storyline to provide a greater emotive impact. In summary Forever Young is an enjoyable inoffensive film but could have been so much more.
Review of Forever Young
