The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Review

After watching the new Ben Stiller movie, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, I kinda felt that Ben Stiller had been secretly stalking me, because it seemed like the movie was based on my life. No, I didn't go on adventures to other countries, but sometimes my mind wanders while I zone out in real life. Sometimes instead of asking a girl on a date in real life, I try to go contact her online. Now don't look too far into that because I am mainly just being silly, but the point is I enjoyed this movie because I felt like I related to this character of Walter Mitty that the movie followed.

The movie is based off a short story written in the 1930's, that was also made into a movie in the 1940's. I am not familiar with either of those, so the idea was new to me. Like I mentioned, the movie follows the life of title character Walter Mitty. Walter Mitty is a character that isn't too outspoken. He is a dreamer and oftentimes zones out in real life, while in his mind he goes on these high adventures or dreams up the perfect situation based on events that are actually happening. He works for Life magazine and it's announced that the magazine is going online and thus the next issue will be the last. The photographer of the magazine has sent the negatives and pointed out one specific negative that should be used as the final cover. However, the negative goes missing and Walter, who usually just goes on adventures in his head, decides to go on a real life adventure to find this photographer.

The best part of the movie is definitely the visuals. As Walter goes on adventures to places like Greenland, Iceland, and the Himalayas we get these breath-taking images of these places and it's rather fantastic. The part of the movie in the Himalayas is definitely the best. Also, the story of the movie is a good one. For much of the movie, we get a Forest Gump-like experience. Ben Stiller does an excellent job acting as Walter Mitty and thus we get invested in the character. This makes following this characters life a worthwhile experience. The message in the movie teaches about following your dreams. Sure, it may be a bit cliche, but it's also inspiring to watch this character who normally has a boring life decide to go on these adventures. At the very least, it was fun to watch.

Overall The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a well put together and well acted movie. Ben Stiller is both director and lead actor in this, and I would say that it's a success for him. Some look at the PG-rating and wonder of this is a movie that is directed more towards kids than adults. I would say that's not true. Think Life of Pi or We Bought a Zoo. This is a movie that the whole family can enjoy. If you are looking for a movie to go to this holiday season, I'd say that this movie would be worth your time. I will give The Secret Life of Walter Mitty an 8 out of 10.