Robin Williams
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Annabella Sciorra
Max Von Sydow
Josh Paddock
Jessica Brookes Grant
DIRECTOR
Vincent Ward
WRITTEN BY
Ron Bass
BASED ON
the novel by Richard Matheson
PRODUCERS
Stephen Simon
Barnet Bain
LENGTH
118 Minutes
RATING
M(15+)
QUICK BIOS
Other Video Reviews
This sentimental movie takes us on
one man's journey through death and beyond in a desperate bid to find his wife and soul
mate.The visual effects should be enough to keep you in awe but thankfully for once, here's a movie that actually has some depth to it and the storyline itself is enough to keep you watching. However, this is one of those movies where both the effects and the script rely heavily on each other. Each one alone would have made this movie watchable but together they make up a not to miss masterpiece.
What Dreams May Come uses special effects to the max but not in the traditional Hollywood blow-em-up style. The effects here just seamlessly flow into each other. There are no bombs, no trains blowing up...just computer generated images that have to be seen to be believed.
I must admit that you really have to watch this movie. Popping out for a couple of minutes could leave you a bit confused. There are a lot of memory sequences involved and unless you keep watching it you could get mixed up between what is a memory and what is actually taking place.
Most people have their own concepts of what life after death will be like. Some of us believe in Heaven and Hell. In What Dreams May Come, this subject is explored in a beautiful and unique way.
Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Annabella Sciorra play the three main characters.
Robin Williams (in yet another outstanding performance) is Chris
Neilson and Annabella Sciorra is his wife Annie. These two are soul mates, or two
halves of one soul...destined to meet no matter what the circumstances. Tragedy
strikes and their two children are killed in a car accident. Thus begins their
downward spiral into the depths of despair, each handling the loss in their own way.
A couple of years later Chris too is killed while trying to help some people who have been
caught up in another car accident.
Arriving in Heaven, Chris is met by Albert (Cuba
Gooding Jr.) who's job it is to guide him in the ways of the afterlife. Heaven, it
turns out, is what you make it and Chris turns his Heaven into the likeness of a picture
Annie was painting for him before he died. It is through this painting that a link
between the living Annie and the dead Chris is made.
Without her children and husband Annie slowly falls into a madness that sees her taking her own life. It is now up to Chris to traverse the boundaries of Heaven and Hell and try to find his beloved Annie.
None of the actors in this movie can be
faulted. The scenery is beautiful and the love story both sad and inspiring.
Leaving behind his usual comedy roles, Robin Williams plays Chris with tenderness and
emotion. Cuba Gooding Jr. is as good in this movie as he was in Jerry Macguire, and
Annabella Sciorra and Max Von Sydow give memorable performances.
This is one movie which I thoroughly recommend however I believe you will get a lot more out of it if you sit down and watch it with someone you truly love...it's just one of those movies that needs to be shared in that way.
Review by Lynn (Dream Weaver) - lmccorry@space.net.au
Date Of Birth - 21st July, 1952
Born - Chicago, Illinois
Married - Marsha Garces
Nominations - Academy Awards - Best Actor, "Good Morning
Vietnam" (1986)
Best Actor, "Dead Poets Society" (1989)
Best Actor, "The Fisher King" (1991)
Golden Globe Awards - Best Supporting Actor, "Good Will
Hunting" (1997)
Awards - Academy Awards - Best Supporting Actor,
"Good Will Hunting" (1997)
The following details about Richard Matheson and the book "What Dreams May Come" were found at the Tor Website
Date Of Birth - 1926
Born - New Jersey
Lives - Richard Matheson has lived and worked in California since 1951
Some Awards He Has Won - The World Fantasy Convention's Life Achievement
Award, the Bram Stoker Award for Life Achievement, the Hugo Award, the Edgar Allan Poe
Award, the Golden Spur Award, The Writer's Guild Award
Some Television Scripts He Has Written - Some episodes of The
Twilight Zone, including "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" (the one where William
Shatner sees a gremlin on the wing of the plane), "The Invaders," and
"Little Girl Lost." Episodes of Have Gun, Will Travel, Night
Gallery, Star Trek (including the episode called "The Enemy
Within," in which Captain Kirk is split into good and evil halves).
Novels And Stories Made Into Films - The
Shrinking Man (filmed as "The Incredible Shrinking Man" in 1957), I Am
Legend (filmed twice, once as "The Last Man on Earth" starring Vincent
Price in 1964, and again as "The Omega Man" starring Charlton Heston in 1971),
and Bid Time Return (filmed as "Somewhere in Time" starring 
Christopher Reeve
and Jane Seymour in 1980).
Movie Scripts He Has Written - Duel (Stephen Spielberg's first
feature film), the TV-movie The Night Stalker, and several of Roger Corman's
Edgar Allan Poe films, including House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the
Pendulum (1961), and The Raven (1963).
Quotes About Richard Matheson By Some Famous Authors - Ray Bradbury -
"One of the most important writers of the 20th century"
Stephen King - "The author who influenced me most as a writer,"
Dean Koontz - "We're all a lot richer to have Richard Matheson among us."
Published by Tor Books
October 1998
$6.99 US / $8.99 Canada
ISBN 0-812-57094-4
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What Dreams May Come - Logo
The scenery in this
movie is breathtaking
Heaven...
is what you make it
Not everyone is lucky enough to
find their soul mate...
If you lost
yours...
how far would you go...
to find them
again...
Chris and Annie
Two soul
mates...torn apart by tragedy