A Family Film with Heart
Ultimate Gift Shares Secrets to Living

The lessons that parents pass to their children are the most important, both for those receiving the lessons and for those giving them. For many, the need to share those lessons comes later in life -- and it is often the onset of age that makes the necessity to impart such wisdom more urgent. In The Ultimate Gift, a dying man makes certain that his grandson has a chance to learn the most important of life's lessons.

The Ultimate Gift
Drew Fuller (left) plays Jason Stevens, a young man who has led a priviledged life that excluded any hard work in The Ultimate Gift. (Fox Faith, 2007)
Directed by: Michael O. Sajbel
Written by: Cheryl McKay, based on the novel by Jim Stovall
Starring: Drew Fuller, James Garner, Ali Hillis, Abigail Breslin, Bill Cobbs, Lee Meriwether, and Brian Dennehy

Rated PG (for thematic elements, some violence and language)
Running time: 114 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 7 out of 10.

Drew Fuller plays Jason Stevens, a privileged youth who has spent his family's money better than he has spent his time. After the death of his billionaire grandfather Red Stevens (James Garner), Jason expects little – if any – inheritance. His relationship with his grandfather has been strained for years. Now, instead of a traditional inheritance, Red gives Jason a series of gifts, each one leading to an "ultimate gift" that he can receive only if he completes a series of tasks.

He journeys through lessons that he never had to learn because of his family's wealth. To start, he spends a month on a ranch, learning the value of hard work. From there, the lessons get harder – and more personal. When he finds himself homeless, he discovers a friend in eight-year old Emily (Abigail Breslin). Emily and her mother show Jason the importance of family, love, and appreciating each day.

Based on the best-selling novel by Jim Stovall, The Ultimate Gift is a family film. Despite being overly sentimental, the story carries with it a deeply moving message. As Jason experiences the gifts of his grandfather, he is transformed. By extension, the audience too learns some valuable lessons about living.

The film has a few flaws in the storytelling. There is a brief side story in which Jason gets kidnapped by drug lords in Ecuador. I still can't figure out the purpose of that storyline, because it wasn't relevant to why Jason went to Ecuador. Red certainly couldn't have anticipated that his grandson would be kidnapped. Despite these small flaws, however, the story manages for the most part to be engaging.

The Ultimate Gift is simplistic, fairly predictable, and blatantly emotional. Young Breslin steals every scene as the feisty but irrepressible Emily. Released by Fox Faith, a new distribution label for Twentieth Century Fox, this film has some spiritual undertones but suggests a life philosophy rather than a religion.