Film Review: What Dreams May Come

It's strange to me that there just aren't that many films that actually show Heaven or Hell in great depth. Perhaps because of that, I often look upon What Dreams May Come as the closest we have to seeing the afterlife on a grandiose Dante-esque scale. The film's biggest selling point are its special effects, which bring Heaven and hell to life in an extremely vivid fashion. Scenes in heaven start off as a literal painting, which is stylish and whimsical; every other scene is ordained with beautifully lush and sunny landscapes and architecture. Later on, the film shows a fantastic cityscape with magnificent domes, arches, spires, with flying people and waterfalls all around it. Then, when the characters make their epic journey to Hell, they tread upon freakish landscapes ordained with shipwrecks, heads in the ground, and a sea of bodies. Scenes like these are brilliant and lovely, for they appear like living, moving Renaissance paintings.

However, the experience of What Dreams May Come is a strangely uneven one. The film's narrative is cut up, interjecting flashbacks and dialogue at odd places. In doing so, the pacing becomes herky-jerky. The film will be drop-dead serious one moment, sentimental the next, then slappy, then corny, then beautiful, and so on. It also takes a little while to get to the good stuff; the actual plot of the movie doesn't kick in until ten minutes or so, during which time nothing much really happens. I think if the entire film was focused on the afterlife, rather than jumping back and forth and focusing so much on the characters' sentimentality, it would have been more effective. As it is, the film is strangely uneven.

The story generally works, but thanks to the way it's broken up, I feel the plot suffers tremendously. Conflict is slight as it is, but with the frequent flashbacks and interruptions, the plot stalls most of the time. When the plot does take momentum, it covers rather predictable ground. Characters are generally likable and emotional, and are a pleasure to watch.

A few concepts are challenging though: the film takes the safe path through its theology, with its mention of reincarnation, with having certain characters take on the attributes of different races and creeds rather than being themselves. The film is also very Swedenborgian, given its assertions about love, punishment in the afterlife (or rather, the lack thereof), and the notion that Heaven and Hell are derived from the characters' minds or the state of their soul, rather than being real places. The film portrays an afterlife that's non-threatening and all-encompassing, which is nice, but runs contrary to established beliefs in theology and religion. At its worst, it's pure Hollywood surgar-coating.

The film generally looks good, with a varied mix of interesting photography and vivid imagery. Editing is pretty wonky, given the way it cuts up different scenes in one giant meatloaf-style narrative. Acting is decent though: Robin Williams eeks out a few of his signature silly lines, but other times he's really earnest. Cuba Gooding Jr.'s presence is somewhat bewildering, but he seems to have fun with his role. Max Von Sydow comes off as a Virgil wannabe, and Annabella Sciorra nails her role. Writing is a mixed bag; it's sophisticated in some places, simplistic in others, and really sentimental throughout. This production has magnificent sets, props, costumes, special effects, and locales. Music is nice too.

The story's pretty random, and some of the ideas seem to be watered-down for mass audiences, but What Dreams May Come does offer a worthwhile experience, as it literally paints visions of the afterlife before our eyes. At the moment, it's the best we have to actually seeing what Heaven and Hell could look like, and that alone makes it worth seeing at least once.

3.5/5 (Entertainment: Pretty Good | Story: Average | Film: Pretty Good)