Cinematic Heaven: A Look at Life After Death In the Movies

Movies offer no shortage of imaginative takes on the afterlife, and Heaven is no exception. But as these examples make clear, not all movie Heavens are alike. Some are weird, others are downright awful. When your time comes, cross your fingers for one of the good ones.

Heaven is for Real

Based on a true story, 'Heaven is for Real' is the story of a young boy's near-death experience that changed his life and the lives of his family and those around him. In his version, Heaven is a beautiful place where everyone appears young.

What Dreams May Come

Heaven is a giant, wet painting filled with endless beauty. Also, your son is now played by Cuba Gooding Jr. You will spend eternity just trying to figure it all out.

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey

The Bill and Ted Universe's Heaven isn't as elaborate or interesting as its Hell, but it does gain extra points for hosting weird aliens as well as just regular old humans. Plus, the Grim Reaper can just come and go as he pleases.

This is the End

Heaven is a place where all your dreams come true. Which means Heaven is a place where The Backstreet Boys play "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" whenever you want, which is all the time.

Defending Your Life

Heaven, if this can even be considered Heaven, is a huge trial which forces you to relive a lot of your most humiliating experiences on Earth. But there are many fun tourist attractions, and the food is to die for.

All Dogs Go to Heaven

Floating clouds, angelic wings, and halos. This Heaven sticks to the classics. Except for the millions and millions of clocks. And dogs. There are a lot of dogs.

Field of Dreams

The mechanics of this Heaven are a bit hard to suss out, but it's basically a baseball diamond where all your baseball dreams can finally come true. So if baseball isn't your thing, you might be out of luck.

Little Nicky

Like a lot of movie Heavens, this one's cloudy, flowery, white, and peaceful. On the other hand, all the angles are pretty ladies wearing nighties with wings.

Heaven Can Wait

Heaven has a lot of rules and runs like a highly organized office. To get there you have to walk on a cloud and board a really sweet looking jet plane. That's probably not so awesome for people who just died on sweet looking jet planes, though.

Beetlejuice

Hell in 'Beetlejuice' is a sandy wasteland teeming with gigantic worms. But Heaven is an drab, ill-run bureaucracy, so it's not really much better. Your best bet is just to not ever die.

The Frighteners

A lot of spirits in 'The Frighteners' don't even make it to Heaven, but those who do find a pretty classic white plane of clean existence. Your loved ones are waiting for you and you get a nice wardrobe upgrade.

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

Only Monty Python would envision Heaven as a cheesy Las Vegas lounge act where it's Christmas every day and all the backup dancers are topless. If nothing else, it's original.

Ghost

We see only the front door of Heaven in 'Ghost,' but it has to be great if only as a contrast to the horrific journey taken by the film's villains on their way to Hell.

Babe: Pig in the City

That 'Babe: Pig in the City' even has a Heaven should indicate the film's darker corners. The little we see seems pleasant enough, though. Disabled dogs are able to cast aside their wheelchairs and spend eternity hunting butterflies. What could be better than that?

It's a Wonderful Life

'It's a Wonderful Life' takes a surprisingly cosmic approach to the Heaven by displaying angel dialog via blinking star clusters and galaxies. Thanks to this epic scope, it's hard to say where all the dead people fit in. But it's probably very pleasant.