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The Ultimate Gift
By John Dixon
Cub@TheColumbiaStar.com

The week before The Ultimate Gift hit the theaters, I was actually sent a movie on pre- release by the studios to review. 20th Century Fox Faith division has a mission to bring family oriented entertainment back to theaters.

The Ultimate Gift was better than I anticipated. The plot starts with a dying man recording his last words. It then moves ahead to his funeral where during the ceremony a loud hot rod pulls up and a cocky indifferent youth, Jason Stevens, steps out.

The movie then skips to the will being read and family members leaving disappointed. The same youth from before steps in and is treated to the recording of his dead grandfather. He is told of a series of gifts leading up to the ultimate gift.

These "gifts" include work, friendship, money, and family. The gifts are designed to change Jason's spoiled nature. Each one takes him a step closer to finding out that happiness is more important than money.

At first, Jason feels a bit left out of the loop as he stumbles through experiences which everyone else seems to understand better than he.

In the end though, the gifts lead to many discoveries including friends and a secret hidden for many years.

This film had some well known actors such as Bill Cobbs, James Garner, and Brian Dennehy. Most of these names will mean little to people my age, but they are very fine actors nonetheless.

Drew Fuller was very believable as spoiled Jason Stevens who starts out with a sense of entitlement brought about by a privileged upbringing with few real expectations. Being the kind of movie that it was, there was not much room for special effects.

There were, however, some spectacular scenic settings and real action and adventure when criminals in Colombia were thrown into the equation.

While I do not think this movie is necessarily one that most teens and pre-teens would choose to go see on their own, I do think that it is good wholesome family entertainment, and it teaches a valuable lesson into the bargain. That said, I'm glad the company sent me the movie to preview because it was a good film and well worth watching. I rate this movie a solid three stars for superb storyline, fine acting, some awesome scenery, and a healthy dose of decent family entertainment.