I wrote this review when the movie first came out at the theater. I recently watched it again. The movie is memorable so I decided to share this review again.
"What Dreams May Come" is a fantasy movie about the afterlife, love and redemption. It is a visually stunning movie, winning the Academy Award recently for visual effects. Fantasy lovers will enjoy this different movie about life after death.
Robin Williams plays a doctor who meets the love of his life, gets married and has two children. The family lives happily until tragedy strikes and the children die in a car accident. This brings difficulties to the couple. The mother, an artist, suffers from terrible guilt. Some time later, the doctor tragically dies too. This leaves the movie open for the tale of life after death, grief and eternal love.
Portrayal of the after life in this movie is radically wonderful. There is not the usual heaven of fluffy clouds and angels. A departed soul creates their own vision of heaven or hell through their imagination. William's character creates a heaven from one of his wife's paintings. The film makers created glorious, vivid images full of color and beauty. Other scenes are great too, from images of different heavens to the hells.
The plot of the movie is a quest. The doctor deals with acceptance of death and finding his children. William's refuses to accept the loss of his wife to her private hell when she dies. He journeys through the afterlife seeking her soul and determined to redeem her from an eternity of despair and guilt. The ultimate theme is that love wins through and hope should never be surrendered.
Viewers will find this movie wonderful entertainment with a message of love and hope in a darkly, cynical age. The portrayal of a non-judgmental afterlife was refreshing without ascribing to any established religion's concepts of the afterlife. I recommend this movie to fantasy readers. Also, this movie is based on a book of the same title by the late Richard Matheson.
If you see this movie, let me know what you think of this movie. Did you like it? Any comparison to the book for those of you who have read it?
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