The Secret Life of Walter Mitty [DVD] [2013] [2017]

A new film version of the James Thurber short story about a man who escapes his humdrum daily life by getting into exciting day dreams.Like all films of short stories, it bears no resemblance to the original other than taking the main idea and going it's own way with it.Thus it bears no resemblance to the original film version starring Danny Kaye other than having the same basic plot as that did also.Ben Stiller stars and directs.Walter works for life magazine, has a crush on a co-worker [Kristen Wiig] and can't complete an online dating profile properly because he doesn't have much - if anything - he can put on it.Anything that he's done in reality and not his imagination, that is.When the magazine faces closure, and the last ever issue is due, a famous photographer [Sean Penn] sends in a photo for the cover. But the negative isn't where it should be. And the quest for it sends Walter on a real life adventure more spectacular than anything he could ever have imagined...This is a project that was in development for a long time, and went through many potential leads and directors. All of the previous choices, you might expect, would have turned it into an out and out comedy. But Ben Stiller manages something different and far more subtle.There's occasional character comedy here, all of which arises as it should from character interaction rather than the need for a joke every few minutes. The film starts slowly, but with a purpose. Just to ease you into the reality of Walter's ordinary life, before pushing him off on adventure.But what catches the eye is the direction. The film jumps from fantasy to reality so seamlessly, with visuals that mesh together perfectly. And the music adds to all this. It's a famous and very subtle score that does enhance the mood.The aim of which is to inspire and make you relate to the main character. Which it succeeds in doing, because when he finally makes one very brave leap, the moment is cinema magic.With stunning location photography throughout, this is a treat for the eye. And the writing is clever, managing to let the plot develop nicely with some surprises along the way.Sometimes in life you get inspired. Something makes you want to break the routine and do something new and different. This film is one of those that will make you feel like that. Not least because it's subtle about the points it's trying to make, so you get them completely.Superbly directed, very well acted, and an inspiring experience. Watch it. It might just make you change your life. If you dare.The dvd box says that it only has language and subtitle options in English, but the set up menu on the disc actually gives the following:Languages: English. Russian. Ukrainian.Subtitles: English Danish Finnish Norwegian Russian Swedish Estonia Latvian Lithuanian Ukrainian.The disc doesn't start with any trailers, and goes straight to the main menu when loaded.Extras are:The look of life.The music of Walter Mitty.Two featurettes, both running no more than five minutes [approx.]. about the look of the life magazine set and the score of the film. Both are very interesting but a bit too short to have as much impact as they could.However Skateboarding through Iceland, a two minute long compilation of film of a key sequence being filmed, is a quite interesting look at how it was done.There's also a short section of reference photographs that the film used for some of the key scenes, which can be navigated through via the menu keys on the dvd remote.

I wasn't sure about this, but thought I'd give it a try. Very moving about the transition from a day dreamer to real life. The scenes where he is serenaded in Iceland to Space Oddity, to skateboarding to the Himalayas represented his journey from childish day dreaming to living as an adult was very good. I'll watch it again

This is a film I missed on the big screen and really wish I hadn't. The film gave me the impression Walter would be diving into all sorts of posters etc and living our lots of different adventures, this isnt really the case (maybe I was day dreaming like Walter) but im so glad, what you get instead is a really beautiful film that stays with you long after its finished. The film centres on our main character who leads a somewhat mundane existence which is only broken by frequent lapses into a Daydream where he sees himself doing what he'd really want to but doesn't (like us all i guess). Walter works at Life magazine which is shortly to close when he is sent some photo negatives by adventurer Sean O'Connell played by the ever excellent Sean Penn. When it becomes clear the main negative needed is missing , Walter goes on a mission to track down Sean O'Connell and retrieve this, what follows is wonderfully entertaining, with Walter finding himself outside of his comfort zone doing what he could previously only imagine (perhaps this iswhy his daydreaming gets less and less). There is great support from Kristen Wiig playing love interest Cheryl Melhoff and bad guy Ted Hendricks played by Adam Scott (Will Ferrells brother from Step Brothers) who you just love to hate and with possibly one of the best film beards ever. In short a really enjoyable film the sort that stays with you and requires repeating viewing, it has a feel of say the Truman Show where you just dont tire of watching and you know you will still be watching it in 10 years time. The downside , just the Benjamin Button Sequence , how I wish they'd cut it out , would of almost been perfect then.