We never go see movies in the theatre, but this weekend there were four that we wanted to see (although one will work just fine on video). We settled on What Dreams May Come, a love story that spans the afterlife and, I was told, involved much audience weeping and nose-blowing.
It was a gorgeous movie. For the most part the art director should be sainted. The premise was buyable, and, yes, the movie did get a little emotion going.
But the script writer should be taken out and thrashed soundly.
Unfortunately, the screenplay gave the audience no credit. Everything in the film was dealt to me to explain things that I should have had to make connections to. Every time I was ready for that dawn of realization to flood over me they flashed back to some scene which explained everything in ungodly minute detail.
Had they simply unrolled the film linearly it would have been much more engaging.
And the director used heavy handed stop motion, lots of overdone fades, gratuitous camera motion...
If you go see this movie, go for the visuals, which are wonderful. If you can abandon the need to be involved in the movie maybe you'll get more emotionally out of it than Catherine or I, but overall we found it a disappointment.
Sunday, October 25th, 1998 danlyke@flutterby.com