Movie · 1998 · Drama, Fantasy, Romance · 1h 53m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 3.3/10 (200.4K ratings)
After life there is more. The end is just the beginning.
Overview
Chris Nielsen dies to find himself in a heaven more amazing than he could have ever dreamed of. There is one thing missing: his wife. After he died, his wife Annie killed herself and went to hell. Chris decides to risk eternity in Hades for the small chance that he will be able to bring her back to heaven.
Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr., Annabella Sciorra, Josh Paddock, Jessica Brooks Grant, Max von Sydow, Wilma Bonet, Lucinda Jenney, Rosalind Chao, Matt Salinger, Maggie McCarthy, Carin Sprague, June Carryl, Werner Herzog, Clara Thomas, Benjamin Brock, London Freeman, Phaedra Neitzel, Tom O'Reilly
Curator Review
Verdict
A visually ambitious, deeply earnest afterlife romance with striking imagery and a sincere emotional core, but it’s also famously uneven, over-sentimental, and sometimes more impressive in concept than in execution. If you’re open to a big, strange 90s tearjerker that swings hard for transcendence, it can be moving; if you need tonal restraint or airtight logic, it may frustrate you.
Best for
viewers who like lush, painterly fantasy visuals
fans of earnest romantic melodrama
people interested in afterlife stories and spiritual allegory
Robin Williams admirers
90s prestige fantasy with a sincere, emotional edge
Skip if
you dislike heavy sentimentality
you want subtle or grounded storytelling
you’re sensitive to depictions of suicide and grief
you need polished CGI by modern standards
you prefer horror-leaning hell imagery over romantic metaphysics
Overview
What Dreams May Come is one of those films that feels like a dare: can a movie be this earnest, this ornate, and this emotionally maximal without collapsing under its own weight? Sometimes it can. The afterlife imagery is the main attraction, with heaven rendered as a living painting and hell as a punishing, expressionistic void. It’s a bold visual concept that still stands out, even when the story around it feels overdetermined.
Worth noting
The film’s heart is its devotion to love as a force that survives death, guilt, and cosmic punishment. That sincerity gives it real power, especially in the performances and in the way grief is treated as something almost geological in its scale. At the same time, the movie can be clumsy, overly symbolic, and so committed to emotional catharsis that it occasionally tips into melodramatic excess.
Bottom line
As a piece of 90s studio fantasy, it’s fascinating: ambitious, flawed, and unmistakably of its era. It’s not a clean recommendation for everyone, but for viewers who respond to visually expressive cinema and big metaphysical romance, it remains a memorable, unusual watch.
Top Letterboxd reviews
olivia ✨ (4★) · 535 likes
i hope robin williams is wandering around in van gogh/monet heaven right now
Charlie · 357 likes
Mum's favourite film.
I SHIT thee NOUT, Robin Williams naruto-runs in one scene near the beginning
Sven Rump (4★) · 296 likes
There is no chance I am able to write an objective review after having seen a Robin Williams film now, but who cares about objectivity at a time like this.
Minor spoilage included, proceed at your own risk.
I have consciously avoided What Dreams May Come since its theatrical run,but I felt like this was as good a time as any as the sad plot might prove to be something of a cathartic experience for me. The story of doctor… more
Zack Ford (1.5★) · 246 likes
Short as Possible Synopsis:A mans was a great person, dies, and goes to Paint heaven. His wife commits suicide and goes to Hell. He travels on a boat to hell to save her.
Thoughts About What Dreams May Come:- Nothing that is supposed to be emotional works. I can usually go for some good sap, but here It is all forced cheese- particularly the use of his children. Without getting into too far of spoiler details, the way and… more
🎄MattLovesMovies🎄 (3.5★) · 237 likes
I’m a sucker for anything that focuses on abstract ways in which humans struggle to let go. Add in Robin Williams and it’s a banger.