The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

When do you decide to take a risk in life, to take that leap into the unknown? In December 2013, Walter found a reason, and the leap that followed was quite the adventure.

Directing this 114 minute adventure/comedy/drama/fantasy is Ben Stiller.

Some of the faces in Walter’s life are: Ben Stiller as Walter Mitty, Kristen Wiig as Cheryl Melhoff, Adam Scott as Ted Hendricks, Shirley MacLaine as Edna Mitty, Kathryn Hahn as Odessa Mitty, Sean Penn as Sean O’Connell, Patton Oswalt as Todd Maher and Adrian Martinez as Hernando.

Walter has a highly active imagination that sometimes picks up where his life leaves off. Creating a place for him to go when he doesn’t deal well with situations he finds in life. Then something happens that will change Walter’s life. News is announced that Life magazine, where Walter works as a negative assets manager, will be printing it’s last issue. The company wants to use Sean O’Connell’s latest submission as the cover of their last issue. The problem arises when the submission that was sent in is missing the one picture they want. Walter has worked closely with Sean for a long time, and can’t figure out what could have happened to the missing picture. After stalling on the whereabouts of the soon to be famous picture, Watler decides to hop a plane and find Sean to ask him about the picture. What starts as a journey to find a picture turns into an adventure that helps him find something even bigger.

First off, I didn’t know this was originally a short story that carries the same name, written by James Thurber in 1939. Or that this is the second movie done about the short story. The first version was done back in 1947 and was directed by Norman Z. McLeod. As for the short story or the first film, I’ve never seen or read them, but as for this 2013 version, I was blown away.

Stiller not only starred, but also directed this visual journey, and put together an amazing piece of entertaining work. This is one of those few films that time just passes by peacefully, you don’t want it to end but you have to see what happens. You can spend your time getting lost in the moment of the film, and find courage along side Walter as he forges forward on his journey.

Not only does the film have a great cast and playthrough, but the soundtrack fits perfectly. I can’t say that about a lot of films, since most of the time I don’t really notice the soundtracks. Weird I know, but it takes something that really stands out for me to notice it. Most of the time it fades into the background or it sucks bad enough I try to block it out.

The story is about an everyday man just trying to make it through life. Someone who never leaps because he could fall. Then he finally finds a reason that makes him decide which is more important, never jumping into uncertainty… or the possible wonder waiting on the other side.

 

Summary : This by far is worth the time and money to catch, and is highly entertaining.

It's rated PG for violence.


Rating


Average

5