"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" film

I can safely say that 95+% of the film is different from the short story. The differences include length because it took me 20 minutes to read the short story and 3 hours to watch the movie, but the characters, setting, plot in some cases, POV in some cases, and theme were radically different.
Setting
This film takes place in the 20th century, where the short story takes place in the 19th century. Rather than being born in 1860 before the start of the civil war in Baltimore, Benjamin was born the day WWI ended in New Orleans. The setting is very different because of the time period and the people are also very different. There are multiple settings like Paris, New York, Russia, the ocean, etc. Each of those settings represent a different part of Benjamin's life and a different part of the lives of those around him. Although Benjamin saw many places and lived many places, he always returned to New Orleans. Also, in the short story, Benjamin never left his hometown except to go to college, and in the film he is quite the traveler. I think the settings of the movie is more descriptive because it showed his ever-changing self and his personality. Also, there is the hospital setting where Caroline is reading to Daisy right before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005.
Plot
The plot of the movie is especially different from the short story. The movie adds the story of the clock maker who made a clock run backwards so he could turn back time. This was a reminder of those who died in the war and a memorial to show that sometimes you want life to go backwards. Also, the movie script added the reading of the diary to an old Daisy by her and Benjamin's daughter. There was a whole different set of plot to find out that Benjamin's daughter did not know about him. Some more plot changes include Benjamin's father leaving him on the porch of a nursing home for a black woman named Queenie to find and Queenie takes on Benjamin as her son. As Benjamin lives in the house, he befriends a lot of the wards because he is of the same appearance and condition as they are, but he has the mind of a child. As he "grows down" he sees a lot of death because of the place he lives at. On Thanksgiving 1930, Benjamin meets Daisy and it changes his life. She is the little granddaughter of one of the women in the nursing home and they become friends. For awhile nothing changes much, but in 1937, Benjamin's 17th year, he leaves New Orleans to work on a tug boat. He travels all over, meets people who help him grow up in personality and mentality as he is growing down in looks. He also goes to war with the tug boat to pull wreckage and rescue survivors, but he never sees action until one night a submarine splits an allied ship in half with a torpedo. This causes the men on the tug to shoot guns and run up over the submarine, ultimately sinking it. Benjamin then decides to return home in 1945, his 25th year. Also, Daisy comes home and she meets a much younger version of Benjamin. Also, Benjamin meets his father, a man he used to know but didn't know was his father, and despite being initially angry with his father for abandoning, he takes his father to his father's favorite place and they talk. Mr. Button eventually dies and leaves everything to Benjamin. Some time later, he and Daisy, who is now a famous ballerina, meet again and Daisy tries to love him, but Benjamin rejects her and she leaves. A little while later when realizing how much he lost, he finds her in New York, but she rejects him and goes off with her friends. For a long while Benjamin stays at home and does odd jobs at the nursing home until a letter saying that Daisy crushed her leg in Paris arrives for him. He flies to Paris and meets her where she said once again she doesn't want to be with him out of fear of him seeing her broken. Benjamin doesn't leave Paris right away so he can keep an eye on Daisy from afar, but he eventually leaves for home. But of course like any good love story, Daisy returns and they fall in love this time for real and spend a long time together as a couple. They return home one day form their adventure to find that Queenie had died. Benjamin sells the houses and he and Daisy buy a duplex where they live happily for a long time until Daisy announces she is pregnant with a girl (in the story it was a boy). Benjamin is scared because he knows he wouldn't be a good father as he becomes even younger and leaves. Of course, he comes back a lot later to find that Daisy has remarried and that his daughter is 12. They meet once and he leaves again for good. However, when Benjamin is a child and Daisy is an old woman, he cant remember anything and shows up at the nursing home. As he becomes even younger, Daisy takes care of him until the backwards clock is taken down when he is an infant and he dies in Daisy's arms. The daughter finishes reading his diary to Daisy when the hurricane hits and Daisy dies. I can honestly say that none of this is in the short story, but there is a woman, Hildegarde, and a son, Roscoe, but they are extremely different.
POV
The POV is similar in the regard that it is read from a diary in the short story and the movie. However, in the movie, Benjamin refers to himself as I in some parts when that never happens in the story. Also, the diary is read in 3rd person too, like the story. Now that I think of it, there was a person at the beginning of the short story that was reading the diary and there was Caroline, the daughter, reading it too which is a similarity. The narrator of the short story is never mentioned by name, but Caroline is. Also, the viewer gets POV's from Daisy as an old woman in the hospital and her experiences with Benjamin. One of the most important difference, but one of the best I think, is the POV of the daughter. She never knew her father and she was angry at first, but I think she came to terms with the "curiousness" of the situation.
Characterization
Benjamin: Benjamin is always different from everyone in the story and probably has the most experiences. He is most definitely a round and dynamic character because he goes through many changes. I think he is different in the movie because of the circumstances the script put him in, but I think his core part is the same. He is sweet, different, and nomadic.
Queenie: Queenie is a very crucial character and doesn't make many changes in the movie. She is not a character in the story, but in the movie she is Benjamin's adopted mother. She sees him as special and a child of God even though many are turned off by him. Throughout the movie, she is always there loving him and caring for him.
Mr. Button: Mr. Button is a character in both the movie and the story, but instead of abandoning him, he lives a miserable life with Benjamin. In the story I think the father changes, but in the movie he changes drastically. He is a dynamic character because he tries to make amends, follows Benjamin's life even though Benjamin doesn't know who he is, and in the end tells him. The father accepts the consequences that Benjamin might hate him because of this, but he does it any way. The father is a likable character for me in the end because of every thing he does to atone for abandoning his son. I did not like the father in the story because he doesn't accept Benjamin until later and doesn't make amends for the things he did.
Daisy: Daisy is also another character who was not in the story and I found myself liking her mostly. She, for awhile, was lost, but she then found Benjamin and ended up living with him. Daisy had a difficult role because she loved him through his aging and dealt with his coming and going. Also, when Benjamin left for the last time when their daughter was young, she was angry but understood. I think she was noble in her role. Finally, she took care of Benjamin as he grew younger, began to forget, and died as an infant. There was no Daisy in the story because I refuse to equate Hildegarde, Benjamin's wife, with Daisy. Hildegarde loved Benjamin when it was convenient to do so for her and couldn't accept his condition. She went as far as to say he could stop his aging backwards which is false.
Older Daisy: Older Daisy is a much more understanding and older(?). She has a good understanding of everything and a good view on love and life.
Caroline: Caroline is an interesting character because she is hearing Benjamin's story for the first time as her mother is dying. She does not know a lot about her mother's past and tells Daisy that she wishes they had more time. She also tells her she wishes she had something to show for herself. Caroline learns from the story a lot and is quite angry, but I think she comes to term with it in the end. Caroline is a round and dynamic character. She is also not in the story, but her equivalent is Roscoe. Roscoe is not a very good son as Benjamin decreases in age and he holds the same mentality as his mother, Hildegarde.
The were a lot of minor characters who impacted Benjamin's life throughout his life that were in the movie, but not the story. These characters helped him come to term with everything and helped him through his life. They were very important to the movie, but they all had the same purpose in different ages, genders, and points in Benjamin's life.
Theme: I think the themes are similar in the movie and the story which will make my life a little easier, but there are some differences (woohoo...!). I think the movie mostly points out the fact that Benjamin was different, but Queenie said he was a child of God and loved him anyway. I think this is a great theme because it shows that differences can be scary, strange, and different, but the people are still children of God and deserve love and compassion. Another theme is that life only happens once and "carpe diem"- seize the day. So many good things happened when the characters learned to live life once, rejoice that they have the time, and have no regrets. This is also a great theme. I think the other themes I analyzed form the story apply, but I think these new themes apply more and I like them better.

I probably don't need to say which I liked better, but whatever. I liked the movie better because it was in a time period more towards mine and Benjamin was accepted more. I like the changes made and while the essence of the story might have been changed, I like it a lot better!