Heaven Is For Real Movie Review

Heaven is for Real

  
Genre: Drama 
Director: Randall Wallace 

Cast: Greg Kinnear, Kelly Reilly, Connor Corum, Margo Martindale, Thomas Haden Church etc.

Synopsis:Inspired by the #1 New York Times best-selling book of the same name, "Heaven is for Real" brings to the screen the true story of a small-town father who must find the courage and conviction to share his son's extraordinary, life-changing experience, with the world.

The film stars Academy Award® nominee and Emmy® award winning actor Greg Kinnear as Todd Burpo and co-stars Kelly Reilly as Sonja Burpo, the real-life couple whose son Colton (newcomer Connor Corum) claims to have visited Heaven during a near death experience. Colton recounts the details of his amazing journey with childlike innocence and speaks matter-of-factly about things that happened before his birth... things he couldn't possibly know. Todd and his family are then challenged to examine the meaning from this remarkable event. 

Review:IHot on the heels of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” — the number-one movie for the third week in a row, pulling into the number-two spot at the box office this Easter weekend was the Christian-themed film “Heaven is for Real,” based on the popular book by the same name.

The film, like the book, tells the story of young Colton Burpo (Connor Corum) and his family following the boy’s revelation that he’d been to heaven while having an emergency appendectomy. The family was already going through a tough time both financially and physically. Colton’s father, Pastor Todd Burpo (Greg Kinnear), had suffered from kidney stones, a badly broken leg and had undergone a mastectomy. Feeling a bit like Job, the prospect of losing his son pressed the pastor to the edge of doubt — a rough place to be for a father and pastor. The film details the struggles that came along with Colton’s testimony concerning heaven.

Readers who enjoyed the book will likely enjoy the movie. It stays fairly close to what is found in the pages of the book and keeps to its general premise with one exception. Both the book and the film are presented as non-fiction and this is challenging for the filmmakers because there will be Christians and non-Christians who will be skeptical of the story itself. What are the filmmakers to do? Do they make a movie that tries to convince the skeptical mind or do they make a film that “preaches to the choir”?

In the end, they seem to attempt both. This is a weakness of the film, because even with Oscar-nominated actors like Greg Kinnear and Thomas Haden Church and Oscar-nominated director Randall Wallace, there likely isn’t enough polish and credibility to cross this story into the mainstream. Mainstream crossover appeal is necessary for generating water-cooler discussions of the question at hand: “Is heaven for real or not?” The film would have been stronger if it had narrowed its sights on a more targeted audience and then stayed true to that audience.

Overall, the movie has touching moments as it depicts the Christian family in a congenial way, even throwing some matrimonial romance into the mix. Dealing with financial issues, medical bills and serious illnesses is compelling, as many people have to deal with those real-life circumstances. Also compelling on its own is the Burpo family’s need to be “grounded” in their times of trouble, just like other families. In the end, the Burpo family find their grounding in their Christian faith through the lens of young Colton’s experience.