Its just a repeat of the first half of the anime but cut down, reanimated, and with new scenes added

If you're a fan of the series, then I'd say this is probably a good summary for those who want to watch the series again, but may not have the time to watch the whole thing. A few more new scenes and maybe told more from Ryuk's point of view, but otherwise a relatively enjoyable couple of hours.

If you enjoyed the original Death Note series, you will most definitely enjoy Death Note R. It is essentially a compressed version of the first half of the series before Near and Mello are introduced. The movie's intro and ending have been changed from the original show to give the movie a sense of originality. If you have not seen the Death Note show, I recommend watching it first, or else some scenes might not make sense because a lot of content had to be removed to keep the movie under 10 hours. All in all, Death Note R is nothing new, but still an extremely well done adaptation of the original Death Note that I highly recommend any fan to watch.