I'll be honest, I was born in 93 and have missed a lot of stunning movies by actors I enjoy watching nowadays such as, Robin Williams. I first got wind of this movie, while watching a Family Guy episode that featured a DVD of What Dreams May Come. I figured they were making fun of this particular movie for a reason, but having never seen it I couldn't guess why; so I settled on watching this movie for myself. I'm glad that I chose to pursue this wonderful movie by Director Vincent Ward. In a short explanation, What Dreams May Come, is about a husband and wife who experience a tragic event at the loss of their children in a car crash. Four years later, the recovering wife is thrown back into a depression following the loss of her husband in an accident she blames herself for. As the man lives on in the afterlife he learns of his wife's suicide and damning to hell. Willing to do anything for his wife, the husband leaves the safety of heaven to save his wife from eternal suffering. Starring Robin Williams, Annabella Sciorra and Cuba Gooding Jr, among other notables.
The aspect that stands out the most to me about this film, is the scenery. The portrayal of heaven is simply beautiful, in fact it was so shockingly magnificent that I couldn't believe this was made in 98. From the flowing waterfalls to the painted fields, everything sang of pure perfection.
Of course the environment, though the most stunning, is not the only beautiful feature. The family dynamic and relationship between William's character and Annabella Sciorra character was beyond inspiring. The emotional connection and love shared between the two seems to delve deeper then the film. Their acting was so believable, that it would not be hard to imagine these two together in reality. The children also did phenomenal jobs, in the small screen time they had, expressing their characters and emotional connection to their parents.
The script was well written and felt natural to the characters, none of it seemed forced or contrived. Cuba Gooding was exceptional as a character meant to be more then he appeared and other than Radio, was probably one of my favorite characters of his.
Now what stopped this movie from being a ten was also what made it great, the scenery. After watching how much time and effort they put into creating this memorizing heaven, I thought hell would be explored to the same degree. It didn't have to be this outrageously terrifying place full of twisted tortures and demons, but I at least wanted it to be more thought provoking, maybe have some metaphorical meanings for suffering and instead it was average at best. Hell never really felt like hell but more like purgatory of sorts. There was also a fair amount of flashbacks that I felt took away from Williams character exploring Hell. Maybe the movie was intended to be more about the characters past instead of him exploring Hell to find his wife, but when I read the synopsis it made it sound like this was about searching Hell for his troubled wife.
Fortunately this is a minor fault and doesn't take too much away from this gem that I would recommend to any and everyone who are fans of stories about love and family and the strong connection between a man and his wife. Or if you enjoy cinematography, beautiful landscapes and especially if your a fan of Robin Williams, Annabella Sciorra or Cuba Gooding Jr. who deliver stellar performances.
A definite 8 out of 10.
The aspect that stands out the most to me about this film, is the scenery. The portrayal of heaven is simply beautiful, in fact it was so shockingly magnificent that I couldn't believe this was made in 98. From the flowing waterfalls to the painted fields, everything sang of pure perfection.
Of course the environment, though the most stunning, is not the only beautiful feature. The family dynamic and relationship between William's character and Annabella Sciorra character was beyond inspiring. The emotional connection and love shared between the two seems to delve deeper then the film. Their acting was so believable, that it would not be hard to imagine these two together in reality. The children also did phenomenal jobs, in the small screen time they had, expressing their characters and emotional connection to their parents.
The script was well written and felt natural to the characters, none of it seemed forced or contrived. Cuba Gooding was exceptional as a character meant to be more then he appeared and other than Radio, was probably one of my favorite characters of his.
Now what stopped this movie from being a ten was also what made it great, the scenery. After watching how much time and effort they put into creating this memorizing heaven, I thought hell would be explored to the same degree. It didn't have to be this outrageously terrifying place full of twisted tortures and demons, but I at least wanted it to be more thought provoking, maybe have some metaphorical meanings for suffering and instead it was average at best. Hell never really felt like hell but more like purgatory of sorts. There was also a fair amount of flashbacks that I felt took away from Williams character exploring Hell. Maybe the movie was intended to be more about the characters past instead of him exploring Hell to find his wife, but when I read the synopsis it made it sound like this was about searching Hell for his troubled wife.
Fortunately this is a minor fault and doesn't take too much away from this gem that I would recommend to any and everyone who are fans of stories about love and family and the strong connection between a man and his wife. Or if you enjoy cinematography, beautiful landscapes and especially if your a fan of Robin Williams, Annabella Sciorra or Cuba Gooding Jr. who deliver stellar performances.
A definite 8 out of 10.