Visual Delight, Beautiful Message

Rating: 10/10 (26 December 2013)

This was our Christmas movie and we couldn't have chosen better. A most beautiful film with breathtaking cinematography and Ben Stiller in probably (my opinion) his best role. Stiller's performance was understated and beautifully done as a man who dreams big dreams but has yet to pursue any of them. You get an understanding, through Stiller's performance, of how life, lived one day at a time, slowly got in the way of his being who he really wanted to be.
The score is such a compliment to this film and one scene in particular for me it culminates into a life affirming and luxurious moment. A scene I could watch over and over)and probably will when I grab the Blu Ray when it's released.
I know that the story that Stiller tells is not the story that Thurber wrote so for 'purists' I imagine the movie might be somewhat of a disappointment. This is not the Danny Kaye movie (which I wouldn't have wanted to see, anyway). This Walter Mitty is Ben Stiller's vision and it was everything I'd hoped for and more. Humor but not slapstick. poignant but not a tear jerker (though I did have a lump in my throat several times), a love story wrapped within an even bigger love story - one where dreams can come true even if quietly and incidentally.
I give this movie a 10/10. It is now on my "all time favorites" list.