What Dreams May Come

What Dreams May Come

This Vincent Ward directed film has a star studded cast featuring:  Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr, and Annabella Sciorra.  The film won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, which is certainly well deserved.  Ward takes his best artistic swipe at portraying heaven in this somewhat captivating movie.

The film begins with Chris (Williams) and Annie (Sciorra) meeting each other.  As is the case in film, we are jettisoned forward into time as we come to rest just before a major tragedy, which involves the couple’s two children.  The early demise of her kids sends Annie into an emotional tailspin, which Chris aides in pulling her through or so it would seem.

As Chris and Annie deal with the loss of their children, we are once again tossed into the future where we discover the love and compassion that Chris continues to shower on his emotionally fragile wife.  The two are soul mates and destined to spend the rest of their lives together, which happens to be cut short with yet another untimely car accident that claims Chris’ life.

Chris is transported to heaven after coming to the realization that he is actually deceased.  He is escorted into the afterlife by a mentoring angel named Albert (Gooding Jr.).  Chris wakes up in his own version of heaven, which is heavily influenced by paint.  According to Albert, the reason for the paint is because Chris finds it to be a comfort, which represents his wife’s passion in life.  Chris explores heaven and soon realizes that he may be able to meet up with his children who had preceded him in death.

As would be expected, Annie does not do well with Chris’ early demise and decides to end her life as well.  Chris is alerted to the tragedy and becomes overjoyed as he presumes she will be joining him shortly in heaven.  Unfortunately, Albert indicates that people who commit suicide do not join the others in paradise.  He states that they are forever trapped between worlds for the rest of eternity.  Irate with that explanation, Chris decides to search out and find his true love.  His journey is interesting and filled with self-discovery.  He eventually finds his kids and his wife, but will he be able to reunite them for eternity?

This movie was exquisitely filmed and the special effects were absolutely outstanding.  The theology behind the movie was weak; however, they were pandering to the viewing audience not the theologians preaching the Sunday morning service.  Overall, I enjoyed the movie and gave it 4 stars.  There are several very emotional parts to the film, so don’t forget to grab the tissue box.  What Dreams May Come was a pleasant surprise!

That’s How Matt Sees It!