Heaven is for Real Review

Reviewed by David Savage

Starring: Greg Kinnear, Connor Corum, Kelly Reilly, Thomas Haden Church, Margo Martindale
Directed by: Randall Wallace
Certificate: PG
Running time: 95 minutes (approx.)
Format: DVD
Release date: 6 October 2014

Heaven is for Real is the extraordinary tale of a 4 year old boy who while in the operating theatre for a ruptured appendix has a near-death experience recovers to tell stories of visiting Heaven, having angels sing to him and meeting Jesus. Based on a true story and the best-selling book Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent.

Todd Burpo (Greg Kinnear) is a small-town businessman and father of 2 in Nebraska, USA and is also the town’s preacher. When his 4 year old son, Colton (Connor Corum), is rushed to hospital with a ruptured appendix and is in a really bad way and not expected to survive. Colton recovers but has vivid memories of his trip to heaven.

While Colton is telling his recollection of meeting Jesus and family members that he could not have had any knowledge of his father, Todd, is having a crisis of faith and is having difficulty believing that his son went to heaven but on the other hand knows things that he couldn’t have possibly have known. He speaks of his trip with a child’s innocence but with passion and conviction leaving his parents and the town in denial.

Overall, Heaven is for Real is an excellent faith based movie about the existence, or not, of Heaven. Greg Kinnear plays the part of a struggling father trying to come to terms with his son’s experience extremely well.

Whether you believe in God or Heaven this film is moving, emotional and inspirational and you will need to watch it and make up your own mind whether to believe Colton’s trip and visions of Heaven are real.

An absolute joy to watch. It is a family friendly film that will open discussions about the possibly of a Heaven.

Rating: 5/5

Available to buy from Amazon here.