Heaven Is for Real

Or is it Heaven for the Christians? It's tough to sell to everyone just by definition. The concept is or should by familiar to everyone, whether they believe it or not. And the movie does take a few shots at it and the reaction people would obviously have if they were confronted with a "reality" like that.

All through the eyes of a child who seems to be saying all the right things at the right moments. Which brings issues into the family and the people close to the family. Acting wise this is really good and there are a few things that are a bit out there (a punching or two, screaming at God and some other things), that you might not expect. But it never gets out of hand completely. It's a movie for those who believe anyway, but has a nice speech by Greg towards the end that can be seen as uplifting.

I walked into Heaven Is for Real expecting something overly sentimental or maybe even preachy. What I got instead was something surprisingly grounded. It's not just a movie about heaven-it's about doubt, grief, and the cost of believing in something bigger than what we can explain.

It's a quiet kind of movie, but it lingers in the heart more than I expected.

✅ What Worked for Me

1. Connor Corum is genuinely captivating as Colton He's not one of those "too-cute-to-be-real" movie kids. He's just honest. When he talks about heaven, it doesn't feel rehearsed-it feels like he actually saw something.

"Jesus had the angels sing to me because I was so scared."

2. The struggle of belief is portrayed with nuance Greg Kinnear as the pastor/dad is great. His faith is tested not by disbelief, but by fear-of what people will say, of what this might mean for his church, his family. It's not dramatic shouting-it's quiet uncertainty. Very human.

3. It avoids pushing an agenda Surprisingly, the movie doesn't try to "convert" anyone. It's about one family's experience and lets the viewer take from it what they will. It doesn't try to answer all the questions-just invites you to sit with them.

4. It's heartfelt and sincere If you've ever lost someone or struggled with belief, the emotional core of this movie will resonate. There's a moment between father and son in a cemetery that actually had me tearing up.

❌ What Didn't Work for Me

1. Pacing is uneven Some scenes feel stretched out, especially in the second act. It dips into repetition, and I found myself waiting for things to move along more than once.

2. Some emotional beats feel overly scripted There are a few moments where it tries to tug at your heartstrings too hard, and you can kind of see the strings being pulled. It works better when it stays quiet.

3. The supporting characters aren't deeply developed The townspeople and church community could've added more layers, but most of them exist just to react to the main story.

🌟 Final Thoughts

6 out of 10 Heaven Is for Real is more about questions than answers. It's not trying to prove heaven exists-it's showing how one family responds when their child claims to have been there. It's gentle, respectful, and at times, deeply moving. Whether or not you believe, you'll walk away thinking a little harder about love, loss, and what might come next.

🎥 If You Liked This, You Might Also Enjoy: 1. The Shack (2017) - Grief, God, and healing through tragedy

2. Miracles from Heaven (2016) - Another emotional, faith-based true story

3. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) - Gentle stories about belief, love, and kindness

4. Life of Pi (2012) - Visual storytelling with spiritual depth

5. I Can Only Imagine (2018) - Faith, forgiveness, and music.

I'm very spiritual but not very religious. This movie does an excellent job of sharing important information about the very real issues that near death experiences (NDEs) bring up. All the NDE stories have certain similarities and a judgmental God is not part of them at all. Religion doesn't matter either. All that matters is love for one another. IMO.

Those last few sentences were preacher than this whole movie -- which is a very good thing. It is very tough to tell a spiritual story without being preachy, but this movie does it very well.

If you have the slightest interest, you will enjoy this movie. Is it perfect? No, nothing is, but this movie is pretty good.

8 out of 10 stars. Acting is good too. Kudos to all involved in the production.

Epilogue: There's an odd phenomena happening with any movie that is religious or potentially religious, like this film. They get a lot of 1-star ratings. I'm certain these come from zealots. Mostly, I suspect they are militant atheists who think belief in God is the root of all of mankind's problems. I'm talking about the disciples of Richard Dawkins here. I'll bet serious money that most of the 1-star reviewers never saw the movie.

With a movie like this one there is another potential source of 1-star reviews, fundamentalists who like their religious ideas literal and straight from the bible. Those folks will not like this movie at all. Real spirituality is complicated.

When it comes talking about heaven and hell, we just start ignoring the fact that they might exist. Everyone has heard about it, but nobody wants to believe in its existence. Well, I doubt myself. Sometimes, I want to believe in it but something always stops me from doing so. The movie talks about it, but it's only from a Christian's point of view.

I liked the concept of the movie. They don't actually make us believe in the existence of heaven (or hell), but the good thing about the movie is that, they've kept an effort to show how the world would react when something extraordinary happens. Whatever, the story and the concept touched my heart. It would have been better if they had gone deeper than this. They could have taken the lines of Bible or so, in order to have a factual conversations.

Movie says, it's based on a true story but when there's talking about Jesus, it becomes a Christian's story, not universal. It's not a must watch movie but I would recommend it. I say, we've always watched Sci-Fi movies when we know they are not true, why don't we give a try to some spiritual movies? For most of the people today, they would be only as true as the sci-fi. There's no any magic in the story, just some story of miracles. What if it was 'Your' story? How would you make people believe in you encountering miracles?

While the movie may not be at it best, it's not bad for a one time viewing. My rating would be 7 for the story, acting, dialogues and well, because it has some sort of influence to the society...

I loved this film.

I knew the basic plot going in, but was pleasantly surprised on how well the film was put together. There was comedy, drama, real-life all wrapped in one film. The acting was solid. Greg was great, Margo was awesome, Thomas and Nancy were solid and I was in love with Kelly. Conner was great at just being the innocent child.

I loved the scenery, the rural life, the wide open spaces, the cinematography and the family life complete with it's struggles. Add to that the trauma of a nearing losing a child then having a unique heavenly experience. Rather than simply preach to us, the film shared the real human flesh struggles of a man that was a minister, but still a man.

Even if not based on a true story, it would be a great movie.