Based on the bestseller written by Todd Burpo, Heaven is for Real tells a story of the Burpo family. Told from the father, Todd Burpo’s point of view, the audience joins the Burpo family for a family vacation to Denver; in Denver the Burpo family visits a butterfly and spider sanctuary.
On their way home, the children, Cassie and Colton Burpo both become sick. After a few days, Cassie has fully recovered but Colton’s fever is continuing to rise. Sonja, the mother and Todd decide to bring Colton to the hospital. Colton’s case is much worse than Sonja and Todd could’ve imagined, Colton’s appendix has ruptured and needs emergency surgery. The doctor tells them to prepare for the worst.
Colton survives the surgery but after the surgery he tells his dad about his trip to heaven and back. Colton is only four years old but he is describing his journey in a way that a four year old couldn’t make up. Colton talks about people he met in heaven that he never knew like his great grandfather.
This movie was very good. It stayed very faithful to the book. In the book, Colton is very sick and he did not appear as sick in the movie. Both the book and movie grab the audience right from the beginning but the book was more moving than the book. It makes you sad, scared, and it’s definitely a tear-jerker.
This movie had a very religious and spiritual feel to it. There is a lot of talk about heaven, God, Jesus, angels, etc.
The actors chosen for the parts fit the parts perfectly. Connor Corrum, who plays Colton, was an amazing match for the part. He looked like Colton and played the part extremely well. All of the cast was well-chosen but the part of Colton was especially great.
The cast and crew did a great job taking such a hard part of the Burpo’s life and putting it on screen. It must’ve been difficult to depict images of what Colton was describing heaven to be, the images almost diminish what Colton was describing. It’s truly impossible to depict the descriptions Colton spoke of.
