The exposed life of Walter Mitty.

I walked into this experience with somewhat high expectations. It looked to have a decent level of ambitious storytelling, both visual and otherwise, and had a fairly blank slate at the same time, as far as my foreknowledge of the short story or its early movie rendition. I was basically starting off with a somewhat anxious and positive perspective as a viewer.

This movie does well in every cinematic element I am critical about. I enjoyed the contextual use of typography, in both the opening sequence as well as sprinkled throughout the movie. I really enjoyed the cinematography and locations(makes me wanna visit Iceland and Greenland even more than I already wanted to.) The music was rad - good orchestration that often utilized more rock/folk kinds of music from time to time, which highlighted one of my favorites - Jose Gonzales. The humor/drama was blended nicely and well done on both accounts. The special effects were good enough to never be distracting at all... which is a big accomplishment in itself under my watchful editing inclinations.

In my curiosity about how it rated critically, I did some digging around on a couple major review sites and came to a couple realizations. 1. This movie seemed to be curiously disconnected from the critics as it mostly fell somewhat flat in the general critical review. 2. Reading their specific reactions led me to realize that critics are often quite disconnected from the general publics response to any given movie considering how much better it was received by the non-paid critical review, which was quite a bit more positive. The idea that critics are likely very good at evaluating the artistic and/or technical merits of a film does not necessarily help them understand what will connect with the audience at large. They essentially lack the more human sensibility of how to review a film, broadly speaking. I hope, as I continue to review films in the future, that I do not slide into this category of reviewer myself(assuming I have not done so already.) I write these with the hope that they will mean something to the normal people I associate with more than the possibility of critical conversation among the critically elite.

Anyway, I really like the movie a lot. A solid 8.5 to 9 Benjamin Buttons out of 10.