THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY

DIRECTOR: Ben Stiller

CAST: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Jon Daly

★★★

Ben Stiller, stars and directs in this powerful and uplifting film based on the short story from James Thurber. Stiller plays Walter Mitty, a white-collared daydreamer who works as a negative asset manager at Life Magazine. He is responsible for collating and processing photos from freelance daring photographer Sean O'Connell. Walter escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. But when Walter misplaces the 'photo of the century' and his job is threatened, he embarks on a real-world adventure more extraordinary than anything he could ever have imagined.

"THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY" is interlaced with a humour that Stiller is perfect for, but you wouldn't define it as a comedy, this is an adventure tale which is well balanced between a Hollywood blockbuster and art house cinema. Accompanied by a great soundtrack including Hall & Oates, David Bowie and Arcade Fire, this movie will inspire and keep you warm-hearted right from the beginning. The supporting cast are a little hit-and-miss, Sean Penn oozes charisma as Sean O'Connell, he only has a few lines of dialogue but they are all profound, deep and reflective. Kristen Wiig's Cheryl Melhoff is adequate as Walter's love interest but lacks chemistry and Adam Scott portrays the perfect amount of jerkiness as executive Ted Hendricks. The visual landscape is the movie's best feature. Like many other blockbusters this year, including 'Oblivion' and 'Thor: The Dark World', much of the film is shot in Iceland and cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh's use of wide angle allows for some poetic views of the stunning panoramas, you can't help but wonder why 20th Century fox didn't push for a release in the larger IMAX format. The ending is predictable and even unnecessary, but 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' is not about the destination, this is a story all about the journey. Whether he's jumping from helicopters, fighting sharks, climbing the Himalayas or skateboarding down erupting volcano's, Walter inspires us that it's time to stop dreaming and start living.