Something Many Already Believe..."Heaven Is For Real"

Heaven Is For Real (2014)

Rated PG

Starring Greg Kinnear,  Kelly Reilly, Thomas Haden Church, Connor Corum, Lane Styles, Margo Martindale

Written and Directed by Randall Wallace

The Story:

Todd Burpo (Kinnear) is a pastor whose local church is growing and loving his lessons.  Life of course is strange, and one day his son Colton (Corum) falls ill and has to be rushed to the hospital.  It turns out his appendix has burst and he is probably going to die.  The community prays for little Colton, and miraculously, he survives.  When he gets home though, he begins to share with his family exactly what he saw and did while he was under the knife, and these revelations shake the foundations of everything his family and the local congregation believes.

This is indeed based on a true story, with the book going into far more detail than they can do in a 90 minute movie, so naturally some things are going to be condensed.

I anticipate this movie will naturally divide audiences.

Those that believe will likely quite enjoy it.  Those who do not, will not.

But putting aside religious or philosophical differences, know that there are 3 fundamentally cool things that happen to little Colton in this movie that should not be discounted from his trip to Heaven:

1) He hugs his big sister.

No, not Cassie (Styles).  Instead, Colton meets a little girl who looks similar to Cassie but has no name.  We, and Colton, learn that Todd and Sonja (Reilly) had a miscarriage after they had Cassie and before Colton came along.  They never told anyone, and as they never knew what the baby was going to be, they never named her. 

Bring a tissue.

2) He meets his grandpa.

When he tells his dad about his meeting with Pop, Todd shows him a picture of his dad.  Colton says no, that's not him.  Todd then unearths a long-buried picture from a trunk of his dad as a young man and shows hit to Colton.  That's him.

Cool.

3) When shown pictures of Jesus from the Bible, Colton says no, that's not what he looks like.  Time passes and it is forgotten.

Then, while watching a news program highlighting a little girl from Lithuania who has been painting pictures of her visit to Heaven...

Colton walks by, looks and his mouth drops.  "That's him".

Nice!

Cue the goosebumps and tears of joy.

There's more than just that, but hopefully that makes you interested in seeing the film.

I think you'll be glad you did.

Final Grade: B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I could watch it again in a few years. :)