The Ultimate Gift DVD Review

Netfilx recommended The Ultimate Gift, so I gave it a try. It turned out to be neither great nor terrible, just a string of missed chances holding together a predictable story.

Self-made billionaire Red Stevens (James Garner) dies at the beginning of The Ultimate Gift and all the relatives line up for their inheritances. One by one, they learn that they will get some relatively small thing but not the big plum each was hoping. However, Red saved one special inheritance for Jason, a stuck-up, inconsiderate and self-absorbed grandson. Jason (Drew Fuller) must complete a series of tests before he can find out what the inheritance will be, and Red spells out the tests in videos that he made before he died.

The first test has Jason traveling to Texas to plant fence posts for a month on the ranch of Red's friend, Gus (Brian Dennehy). Another test strips Jason of his money, credit cards and apartment, so that Jason can learn the value of money. Yet another test requires Jason to understand the meaning of friendship. In the friendship test, Jason meets Emily (Abigail Breslin) and her pretty mother, Alexia (Ali Hillis). Jason begins to bond with Emily and Alexia, but has still more tests to perform. One takes him to the jungle in Ecuador, where Jason learns how his father died.

Will Jason grow as a person and understand the nature of the things he's been given? Will he come to his senses and start a relationship with Alexia? Will Emily (who is sick with leukemia) live long enough to be successful as a matchmaker? And will Jason complete the vision quest his grandfather has created?

Drew Fuller was excellent playing rich and spoiled Jason, but not so good at showing the changes that the The Ultimate Gift put him through. I think the problem is that the challenges were too artificial and arbitrary to expect much in the way of personal growth. Yes, I know they had to be set up for the sake of the story but that made them seem like plot devices, not points of logical character development. In particular, Emily (Abigail Breslin) seemed like the biggest plot device of all, something that existed only for Jason to find true and worthy love. Emily's illness put it over the top for me -- The Ultimate Gift would have been a little better if Emily was a normally healthy kid.

Red's family were all caricatures of greedy family members. If Red was such a great patriarch, why did his family end up as such a mess? I also think the money-grubbing family should have been played a little more for humor, as well. Although there were a few funny moments in The Ultimate Gift, it was mostly a little too sincere and occasionally preachy. In particular, Bill Cobbs and Lee Meriwether (as an elderly lawyer and his gal friday) were far too smug in their knowing superiority. Also, I never understood the big secret about how Red hurt Jason -- somehow, that flew right by me.

The Ultimate Gift is a family film that has nothing objectionable for kids aged 10 and older. For this reason, The Ultimate Gift may best be enjoyed by kids aged 10-15, who are old enough to understand the story but not sophisticated enough to comprehend the on-screen caricatures. I did not find this movie heartwarming -- rather, it was predictable and a little manipulative in the way it used people (in particular the character of Emily) as plot devices to tug at our emotions.

The Ultimate Gift is not a bad movie and it's probably better for kids than it is for adults. It is definitely acceptable for the whole family but I don't think kids will have too many spiritual questions after watching it -- The Ultimate Gift provides kid-friendly answers and telegraphs its intentions to do so in the first 10 minutes.

I don't recommend The Ultimate Gift for adults but your kids may get a rainy afternoon's entertainment out of it. A much better film that explores the same ground is My Girl, and I recommend it.