After a spectacular car accident, Chris Nielsen (Robin Williams) finds himself in a 'personal heaven' in which the idyllic images of his beloved wife's paintings are manifest. His pleasant afterlife is shattered when he finds out that his grief-stricken wife committed suicide and is now imprisoned in a hell of her own making, a grim fate from which he vows to rescue her. The film is visually striking, with a lush palette and imaginative imagery but the story is overly convoluted (unlike the book, people in 'heaven' can appear as anyone they wish) and the ending flat and unsatisfying. I am not a big fan of Robin Williams as a dramatic actor - regardless of the role he seems to be unable to completely suppress the delivery that made him a comedy legend, so his characters always seen artificial and constrained (at least to me). The rest of the cast was fine, but as I didn't find the story very engaging, I quickly lost interest in the characters.
Review of What Dreams May Come
What Dreams May Come
(1998)
Visually striking but maudlin romantic fantasy
6 September 2019
Warning: Spoilers