“Some people don’t think miracles happen; well, they do.”

I already know this is a movie I’m going to rewatch many more times throughout my life. It’s just full of so much. There’s comedy, there’s emotion, there’s drama, and I ate up every minute of it. Forrest Gump is already probably one of my favorite movie characters of all time, and Tom Hanks completely sold every single bit of screen time he had. He’s got the intelligence of, well, probably not even a child, but he’s written to be so complex emotionally and an incredibly good example of how to write a compelling and empathetic character.

His story is completely ridiculous, but that’s what makes it interesting. The way that he found his life moving from one place to another was, like I said, ridiculous, but flowed together so well and somehow felt natural to the story’s progression and character development. Throughout each new stage of his life, he finds a new friend, something new to appreciate, or a skill he didn’t know he had. His journey is obviously not realistic, but it’s still inspiring for viewers because at the end of the day it’s really all about overcoming obstacles and going after your dreams (even if your dreams change like every five seconds), as well as finding your purpose.

I’m usually not a fan of narration in movies, but somehow two movies from 1994 that heavily relied on narration ended up being some of my favorite movies: this and of course, The Shawshank Redemption. Safe to say, I loved the narration in Forrest Gump. Tom Hanks’ voice performance was spectacular, and it made everything he had to say about his life somehow even more interesting than it already was. He has heart and passion behind everything he says, even if what he is saying doesn’t exactly make sense. “I just felt like running.”

But the main heart of the movie is his relationship with Jenny. Despite all the things Forrest accomplishes and goes through in his life, and how much he succeeds, he can’t stop thinking about his childhood best friend, Jenny. Her story is compelling and complex as well, but in a completely different manner. Their characters and stories are polar opposites to each other. She is smart (or at least intelligent) while Forrest is anything but, however Forrest has passion in his life and finds loads of success from it despite all the obstacles he faces, while Jenny goes down a darker path, leading to failure after failure.

I don’t want to talk too much more, because I don’t want to get too much into the events of his life. I think this movie would be best not knowing his life’s whole journey and such, but I absolutely loved it to say the very least and don’t have any criticisms.  The ending was also top notch and emotional, moving, and even inspiring.