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The real message of each of these films is that love is what makes life worth living--which is pretty much the message of every American movie that isn't about staying true to your dreams. For some religious groups, which have often complained that Hollywood ignores spiritual themes, this easygoing faith is a mixed blessing. "The idea that people are interested in spiritual things, that there's this longing for something beyond ourselves, is positive. But we have a problem with theological error," explains Bob Smithouser, who writes movie reviews for Plugged In, a publication of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family. His critique of What Dreams May Come complained that the movie's New Age conceits "fly in the face of biblical truth." As if Hollywood was ever faithful to a book.
It's a good thing Smithouser hasn't seen Jack Frost yet. In this film, to be released next month, neglectful father Michael Keaton dies and comes back as a snowman so he can spend some quality time with his son. Surely this too flies in the face of biblical truth--not to mention the song Frosty the Snowman. I just hope Jack will have something more interesting to say than my old man. But I doubt it.