What Dreams May Come (1998)

Robin Williams and Annabella Sciorra star in this visually stunning metaphysical tale of life after death. Neurologist Chris and artist Annie had the perfect life until they lost their children in an auto accident; they're just starting to recover when Chris meets an untimely death himself. He's met by a messenger named Albert (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and taken to his own personal afterlife--a freshly drawn world reminiscent of Annie's own artwork, still dripping and wet with paint. Meanwhile a depressed Annie takes her own life, compelling Chris to traverse heaven and hell to save Annie from an eternity of despair.

The multitextured visuals seem to have been created from a lost fairy tale. Heaven recalls the landscape paintings of Thomas Cole and Renaissance architecture complete with floating cherubs, while hell is a massive shipwreck, an upside-down cathedral overgrown with thorns and a sea of groaning faces popping out of the ground (one of those faces is German director Werner Herzog). Williams is the perfect actor to play against the imaginative computer-generated imagery--he himself is a human special effect. But the lack of chemistry between Williams and Sciorra is painfully apparent, and the flashback plot structure flattens the story's impact despite its deeply felt examinations of the heart and the spirit. Still, there's no denying Eugenio Zanetti's triumphant production design and the Oscar-winning special effects, which create a fully formed universe that is at once beautiful, eerie, and a unique example of movie magic. --Shannon Gee Amazon.com

This dream will exaust you and your senses

Before I wrote this, I read around a few of the other posted reviews here and at the IMDB,( Internet Movie Database ) and what I read surprised me. There are obvious religious arguements to be made in the absense of "God" in the afterlife, and after death having the abillity to continue to move our fate forward in the afterlife for a better end result. Anyway you slice it this movie will react with the viewer in a powerful way, and it will be different for everyboby. Example, I would feel much different viewing the loss of children perhaps if I wasn't a parent myself, and could agonize with the uncomprehensible loss of a child, for me events like that have impact. The loss of your own life in the middle of busy life events due to a split second tragedy, leaving those behind crazy for your loss...and the guilt you would feel if you could experience what your death did to the lives of the ones you leave behind. This film really is not supposed to be Heaven or Hell, just what momments of your own personal relationships and memories could best describe your own individual " forever " if you could take it all with you. I think Robin Williams and the whole cast is wonderful, viseral and heartbreaking and they will touch you and make you think, the artificial worlds they inhabit are nothing short of breathtaking. this movie is really an examination of the life of a couple and a family and where these lives end up forever when life on earth is done, and ultimately it's a wonderful conclusion. Very highly recomended. July 15, 2008

My favrotie love story

This movie has incredible effects, wonderful acting and a beautiful story. It's a nice change from all those sappy, been-there-done-that romances. This is a beautiful and original movie about love conqueing all. And it doesn't just involve the love between the husband and wife, but also the love between the parents and the chidlren, and even the family dog. It uses wonderful images of both heaven and hell, and will make you wonder what each would be like for you. Two thumbs up. May 30, 2008

The Afterlife Envisioned?

Robin Williams in a serious role? Could work.
Robin Williams with an emotionally unstable wife? Ironic.
Robin Williams dies and goes through heaven and hell? Cinematic gold.

Robin Williams plays Chris Nielsen, a doctor devoted to his artist wife, Annie, played by Annabella Sciorra. They're a loving couple that have experienced the heartbreak of losing their children in a car wreck. But when Chris is killed in a car crash as well, he must learn to move on and accept his death. He watches over his widow for the first few days after having died. But then he is transported into a "heaven" which he manifests, a beautiful world of paint inspired by his wife's art. His former mentor played by Cuba Gooding, Jr., who is also dead but not what he appears to be, guides him as he creates his own reality. But when Annie commits suicide Chris must journey into a dark netherworld to save her. There she has created her own afterlife, a "hell" to match her despair and pain. Chris enlists the aid of a tracker, played by Max von Sydow who is also dead and yet again not what he appears to be, who will help him find Annie. Along the way Chris is reunited with his children and learns that only through faith and vulnerability can one become strong enough to heal.

The film is directed by Vincent Ward and is a startling example of spiritual and psychological storytelling, even if the screenplay is convoluted at times. The film is based upon the book by Richard Matheson (I Am Legend). Visually the film is absolutely breathtaking and gives us for the first time in centuries, a truly original idea of what life after death may look like. What hurts the film is the awkward way the story unfolds through flashbacks. Some films can handle a non-linear story but the editor fails to set up a proper chronology before assembling this epic picture. However viewers should not be deterred by this minor annoyance. It's still worth seeing... again and again. May 23, 2008

A False and Misleading Vision of Heaven and Hell

If you want to know about Heaven and Hell, it's all in the Bible. God has already given us a glimpse of both and this movie isn't even close.

The main issue I have with this movie is that the message, theme and core story of the film are not original and created ideas of the author and script writers. The author didn't just sit down and think up the idea of God, the afterlife, Heaven and Hell and the ways to these places. God has provided us with all of this information in the Bible and most people know this. God tells us of these places and how anyone will enter into either domain. Apparently, the author disagrees with what God has told us and has taken the and descriptions of those places and twisted them into his own vision. Which makes this whole idea a blatant lie, contradiction and attack on God's word. The author and movie makers knew this and did it anyway. This is why I diagree with the whole concept of the story and film. This also makes reviewing the actors performances, cinematography, graphics, and music score moot.

In this movie, you can make your own Heaven, and God has no name as not to offend anyone (political correctness strikes again). He's portrayed as "somewhere up there", even in His own Kingdom. The name Jesus isn't even spoken, even though He sits at the right hand of the Father and is Lord, king and judge of all. I thank God that this idea of Heaven isn't even close to the real one. People just hang around or fly around and create their own customized heaven, nonsense. People are also exactly the same in this heaven as they are on earth. Theres pain, anger and swearing in this idea of heaven. You can even take God's name in vain there!!! I don't think so. God's Heaven is peace and joy for those who have called upon the name of Jesus Christ as Lord before death. In the movie, everyone is totally consumed with their own feelings for each other and there's no love for God which should be the greatest and strongest love of all. There's also the option of reincarnation, which is also not Biblical at all. Why would you ever want to come back here anyway after you were already in Heaven? The real Heaven that is, not this boring and self indugent one of the movie. The Bible also makes it clear that no one can cross over from Heaven to Hell or Hell to Heaven. This movie disreagards that too and makes that possible. God gave man dominion over the earth, but Heaven is His.

Which brings us to the other side, Hell. This movie also directly contradicts the Bible by saying, "the real Hell is your life gone wrong". No, the real Hell was made for the devil and his demons. Hell is also a place for those who've rejected Jesus Christ as Lord. God's word clearly states that there is only one unforgivable sin, and that is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, which means to reject Jesus Christ as Lord and make God out to be a liar by denying the truth. The movie also says, "Hell isn't all fire and torment". That's also wrong, God has already told us that it is. All of our senses are intact and there is searing heat, pain and knowledge of where you are and that you put yourself there by rejecting God's way of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. The movie also allows for those in Hell to go to Heaven. Wrong. Judgement is final and eternal. God is in control. But the movie yet again wants man to be in control. The Hell in this movie is a total joy and paradise compared to the real Hell. In the real Hell, there is no moment of peace, even to sit and be depressed. No one returns and all is ultimate suffering and torment. But the worst of it all is being separated from God forever and knowing that you could have accepted the free offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.

This movie portrays secular society's false sense of hope that we're all basically good, without need of salvation and that as long as we don't kill anyone, we're all going to Heaven. It's just not true. We're all sinners, just the same and all in need of salvation. God doesn't send us to Hell, without Jesus, we're already on our way there. We're already condemned and sitting on death row. Jesus bore the sins of the world on His own shoulders so that we may forgiven and be freed from condemnation. We can be saved if we'll just accept what He did. Repent, call upon his name and ask Him into your life as Lord and Savior. You can know God now and His great and abounding love for you. Now is the time of salvation, life can end for anyone of us at anytime. Call upon the name of the Lord while He may be found.

Jesus said, "Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Fathers house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. I will come back and take you with me that you also may be where I am. I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me". (John 14:1-6)

Because God so loved the world, He sacrificed His only Son Jesus Christ, and all those who repent and call on the name of the Lord Jesus will be saved. God didn't send His Son into the world to condemn it but that the world through him may be saved. (John 3:16-17) April 29, 2008

Magnificent and PROFOUND!

Magnificently lush and breathtakingly beautiful, this movie is my #1 absolute favorite movie of all time, because of the profound depth of the story. No mere love story in the conventional sense, it delves into the deepest of human despair, with a stunning performance by Annabella Sciorra, and just when you think you have shed more tears during this movie than all the other movies you've ever seen in your entire life put together, it reaches deep inside your psyche and pulls out the boldest, most heartwrenching understanding you've ever had about the POWER OF LOVE.

To be willing to go to the depths of 'hell' itself for your love, is the profound concept illustrated in What Dreams May Come. In addition, the concepts of creating our own reality, soul mates, and the nature of 'heaven' and 'hell' are explored in exquisite depth.

I can't say enough about the quality of this movie. No other movie (that I've ever seen anyway) has ever come close to its caliber. Oddly enough, this is one of those rare instances in which the movie was actually better than the book.

SEE IT! Have a box of tissues handy. But you will feel enriched afterwards. April 7, 2008

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