The Ultimate Gift

Fox Faith’s religiously focused production company compiled this preachy and trite bore that aims to get the fallen back on the path to righteousness. After an old oil tycoon (James Garner) bites the dust, vulture-like family members circle, hoping for a piece of the fortune. Instead, they’re given the finger, while a selfish and defiant grandson (Drew Fuller) wins his dead granddad’s attention from beyond the grave in the form of a series of self-defining tasks. He is forced into manual labor; he is stripped of his money and possessions; he succumbs to the powers of humility and gratitude. Along the journey, the reluctant grandson meets and later befriends a sharp-tongued little girl, played ideally by Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine). Impossible events periodically happen, and Cheryl McKay’s adaptation of Jim Stovall’s book meanders—all the way to Ecuador.