Into The Wild Review

When I found out that Sean Penn was creating the story Into the Wild, my heart leaped while my stomach dropped. I couldn't help but be skeptical about his ability to follow the true story of Christopher "Alexander Supertramp" Mccandless closely.
OK, I'll admit it. I'm a book/movie snob. And let's be honest, good movies that are based on books, well... they're few and far between.
And I was nervous, because I absolutely loved Jon Krakauer's "Into the Wild". Being the little wanna-be transcendentalist that I am, I immediately fell in love with Chris' story of escaping the burdens of humanity and becoming closer to nature. So as I watched the movie this last week, I grew a huge respect for Sean Penn because I can now label this as my second favorite movie of all time.
Although I wish to spread the good word about both the book and the movie, my disclaimer is that both require patience. Krakauer's book is only a couple hundred pages, but goes deep into the idea of transcendentalism itself, and the psychology behind Chris Mccandless' adventure. However the movie does not miss out on a single likeable person Chris met along the way, or frightening detail of the encounters with angry cops, big dogs, not to mention the Alaskan environment and it's wildlife. This brings the running time of the movie to about 140 minutes. I found the movie to be beautifully done. Plenty of adventure, there is also plenty of beauty, heart, emotion, wildlife, and loneliness captured.
I'd give the movie two thumbs up, or five stars, and Emile Hirsch was the perfect pick to play Chris, he did a phenomenal job and looks (scarily) like the real Mccandless (both being extremely good looking). Sean Penn, as I later found out, worked closely with Jon Krakauer in creating the story that he would approve of. I think Krakauer's book was beautifully illustrated on the silver screen, and if I could've given the Oscar to this movie, you better believe I would have.