Movie Review: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Refreshing, extraordinary and unexpected are three words that best describes "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty". The heroic-surreal clips from the trailer with eye-catching scenarios are just the tip of the iceberg shown by this movie. It is refreshing for it gives you another perspective in looking at the mundane moments of our life. It is extraordinary because of the breathe-taking chain of events that are carefully woven to complete the big picture. The unpredictability of the small details of the scenes that turns out to be a part of the big adventure that this film gives everyone.

Ben Stiller directs and stars in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", James Thurber's classic story of a day-dreamer who escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. Life Magazine has been undergoing transitions over to an on-line magazine, Ted Hendricks (brilliantly arrogant Adam Scott) heads the restructuring corporate team. Ted is a major jerk— arrogant and not as smart as he thinks. Walter is the sole personal contact of legendary cover photographer Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn). When Sean's photo negative for the cover of Life's last newsstand issue is missing, Ted focuses his attention on Walter. Sean claims this is his best photo of his career. Walter must find the missing negative to save his job and possibly win over Cheryl (Kristin Wiig). Working with Cheryl, Walter starts his search in Greenland. Somehow diverting to Iceland, Walter calls Cheryl from a Papa John's Pizza there, and the ordinary life of Walter is turned into an extraordinary journey to look forward to.

Just the opening sequence of this film gave me the satisfaction of seeing ordinary places and object merging and morphing into reality. This movie gave a wonderful take on daydreaming. The location choices are well-planned. The way the plot tried to engage it's viewers to deeply dive into the journey of Walter is highly-effective. The picturesque locations added several notch of awesomeness to the film. I love how the story balanced Walter's secret love for Cheryl and his journey in living a life he dreamed. The surreal daydream sequences are hilarious and it breaks the seriousness of the film in the right timing. A big wow to the long-board scenes! The volcano-eruption sequence was thrilling and as highly entertaining as the shark incident.

The main cast portrayed roles that are vital to the over-all plot of the film. Walter's character was developed slowly with certain helpful jolts of surprise that tickles the imagination of the audience. What started as a simple glitch in a dating site and quick phone conversations with the site's agent led to an important part of the film. The sweet awkward scenes between Cheryl, Walter and his day dreaming are heartfelt and funny. Kristen Wiig is perfect for her character. She just gave the right amount of everything her scenes required. Adam Scott on the other hand portrayed one of our most hated character in the film making everyone especially Walter's life miserable. Those scenes where Ted brings subtle hints of hell to the long-term employees of Life Magazine was executed effectively. There is no dull moment in the whole film. It is a movie that requires its viewers' full attention and it would get yours.

I love how this film gave us another view of our imperfect everyday life. It also presented us a glimpse of our perfect dreams. And after watching the whole film it guided us in an extraordinary way on how to bridge our dreams and reality. A guide on how simple things can give our mundane life big twists. It showed us a hint of possibility in those thing we thought was impossible with the help of will power and dedication.

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is ♥♥♥♥½
A must see for everyone!

Catch Ben Stiller in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in cinemas JANUARY 22!