What Dreams May Come
By stephanie - Tuesday, March 4th, 2008
I remember seeing the 1998 film What Dreams May Come when it first came out in the theater. I loved it then; the visuals were absolutely spectacular, especially by 1998 standards. It’s now 10 years later and I just watched it again at home. I’ve also since read the book (which the movie was based on).
What Dreams May Come, in case you missed it, is a film about the afterlife. Specifically, it’s about an afterlife where your thoughts create your reality. Thus, if you are a good person and in a good mental space, you may see an afterlife that is filled with beauty and lush scenery. If not, it’s off to your personal hell you go.
Robin Williams starred in the film as a man who dies and goes to heaven. Soon his wife commits suicide and is sent to hell. (She’s the one who has sent herself to hell.) Throughout all this, we get to see sappy flashbacks of their affluent life, before their kids died in a car crash and everything turned sour.
If the film cut out the emotional melodrama and flashbacks, it would be a much better film. The scenes of heaven and hell are just fun to watch, and you have to keep your eyes glued to the screen to not miss anything. Cuba Gooding Jr., still riding high from his 90s Jerry McGuire breakthrough role, does a decent job here being the guide to the afterlife.
But mostly, the film gets bogged down in the overwrought love story. From what the film is saying, if you happen to have a soul mate, you’re bound to become a depressive, suicidal wreck who is incapable of being happy or surviving on your own. You become obsessed with your other half to the point that you neglect yourself and your kids. Not a good message.
The book, from my recollection, is actually more interesting in many respects in that it tries to show what the afterlife might really be like. It differs from the the movie in many key plot points and as such avoids the depressive, schmaltzy tone of the film. The book is not high art but interesting, if you are into that sort of new agey stuff.
Despite the flaws, both are worth a review if you have an interest in the subject of the afterlife.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:19 pm
OMG – this was awful – Brainstorm it aint.
Stick to flaky comedy Williams.