sddavis63 I'm accustomed to seeing Reese Witherspoon in lighter fare than this. She's generally pretty good in that kind of stuff, but just the genre itself means that she's never really ranked in what I would call my "A" list of actresses. But my appreciation of her talent increased immensely when I saw her in "Wild." She carries this movie on her back just as much as her character carries her heavy backpack throughout most of the movie. She's in pretty much every scene, so nothing really happens without her, and she's excellent. With all due respect to Julianne Moore, Witherspoon probably should have won the Oscar for best actress that year, and why "Wild" did not even earn an Oscar nomination is beyond me. I'm aware that Cheryl Strayed (on whose memoir this movie is based) said that it was a case of sexism - suggesting that because the movie was based on a woman's experience it didn't get the respect it deserved. Whether that's true or not I have no idea, but overlooking the movie was a huge and sad oversight.As Strayed, Witherspoon was portraying a very troubled young woman dealing with a whole lot of demons in her life - an abusive father, a loving mother who died far too young, a failed marriage. All those things led to drug addictions and sexual promiscuity and eventually an unwanted pregnancy until Cheryl finally decides to basically find herself and get her life back together by committing to hike about 1000 miles along the Pacific Crest Trail - in spite of the fact that as far as hiking goes she's completely inexperienced and totally unprepared. The movie does a superb job of following her along the trail, recounting some of the experiences she has along the way. You expect her to encounter trouble, but although some of her experiences are (or seem) threatening, nothing really bad ever happens to Cheryl, and for the most part she meets a lot of really nice people along the way. It's more a case of the mood that gets set along the way. In fact, most of what happens on the Trail is so unexciting that I can't even call them adventures - and so I use the word "experiences." But the story isn't so much about the Trail or what happens to her - it's about a journey of self-discovery; a journey that helps her come to terms with who she is and where she's been and - just maybe - where she's going. Director Jean-Marc Vallee, I thought, did a great job of moving forward a story that wasn't really "exciting" but keeping it interesting all the way through. The movie intersperses the story of Cheryl's hike, with her backstory, through flashbacks as far back as her childhood and up into her troubled adulthood after her mother's death, and these flashbacks certainly help us to understand how Cheryl got to the point where she needed to do something to re-centre her life. I'm not sure that, in similar circumstances, I'd choose a 1000 mile hike - but she did, and it seemed to work for her.There's really not much to criticize here. The ending may be a little bit rushed - this was a rare movie that left me thinking that maybe there could have been just a bit more? But, overall, I was really impressed with this. In some respects it reminded me a little bit of the 1999 movie "The Straight Story." I wasn't sure that a movie about a woman going on a long hike would be able to keep me interested for almost two hours. But it did. (9/10)

huggibear I usually wouldn't rip a movie apart like I'm about to do because most movies I watch don't irritate, irk or bug this heck out of me. This one did, but maybe that's just a personal thing. I hated this movie! Even though Reese Witherspoon acted the part very well, the movie was pretty boring, very long and drawn out (it dragged) and it was an overly dramatic flick that would not end soon enough. Some of the editing was sub-par with abrupt cross-overs from her memories back to her present-time. Granted, I should have never watched a movie like this on the FXM channel, which is not high- definition and I had to deal with commercials as well. It was by far, the worst movie I've ever had the pleasure of wasting time on. The movie itself was not awful (including the plot), just the little pieces and parts that caused it to drag on. And to think the movie could have been even longer because of the journey she took on that trail. I'm not going to give it a low rating because of my awful experience watching it, but it's not going to get a 7 Star rating. I have to go see what others are saying about it....out of curiosity. It has its own good qualities, so don't take my review of it at too much face value. You really have to watch it and form your own opinion. I think watching it in High Definition would have made a much better experience. Maybe the poor editing issue I experienced was due to that alone.

ajjose-18905 This movie is about how a young woman who has suffered much in her brief life-mother dying of cancer, abusive alcoholic father, drug addiction, sex addition-discovers her true self and her will to live by undertaking an arduous three month long walking trip along l along Americas West coast.- the Pacific Crest trail The movie is watchable but is marred by too much cursing, graphic depictions of sex and bad language.

kylepotts-20033 Reese Witherspoon played her role has Cheryl with enough emotion, fear, and pain to make it not only believable, but tough to watch. It's nice to see Reese Witherspoon in a role that doesn't involve her being just a pretty blonde. The outline of the story was very well done and the idea of the theme blended so well with the story, that I felt changed in some way as well. The thing about this movie that really stands out is the way the director makes ever viewer feel as if they are experiencing the pain she is feeling and how relatable she seems at the first point in her journey, clueless but determined. The beginning dragged out but the biggest problem was that most of the suspense and drama were shown in mostly the flashbacks. I mean she is alone in the woods! The part with the creepy redneck and when she ran out of water was about it. There came a time in the movie, where I felt as if she was in no danger on the trail. Understandably the flashbacks were meant for most of the drama, but I believe the two story lines could've connected better through more action on her journey. It was interesting to see two different stories play out well seeing how neither plot could survive without the other. Despite some long parts and unnecessary b role, a key part that made this movie successful was that the resilient and well liked Reese Witherspoon's, Cheryl, was so simple. Cheryl, the protagonist, is a good character for this film. She is not a super being, not a saint, just a person. That's why she becomes so relatable, we want her to win, to beat this trail. Possibly because we would want ourselves to win in this situation, and see a part of us in her. Another idea that was present, was the idea that her journey was symbolic in the sense that it was her way of finding herself, letting go, and freeing herself from the past she desperately held on to. Thus ending her journey with almost seeming enlightened, which for many makes this hike a representation of life itself. Death, fear, sex, all get the heart racing in this Women vs. Nature Drama. Many parts of it became too long, the story could've focused more on the trail, and there could have been more suspense, but the acting, directing, and main theme of the movie help overlook that and make this a well worth 120 minutes.