The Celestine Prophecy (2006) User Reviews

Not bad if you have read the book... but if you haven't forget it!

[tovenaar-1 · 5/10 · 16 January 2007]

It was about 10 years ago when I came across the book and not by chance, it literally fell into lap. It was one of the best books I had ever read. That said I waited years for the movie with high expectations. I ordered the DVD as soon as it was available and eagerly watched it with friends. Unfortunately the movie failed on several aspects! As the movie progressed I found myself pausing the movie frequently to explain to those who had not read the book what was going on. The movie seemed to skim quickly over some of the insights without proper explanation which caused me to loose track as to which insight was being discussed in the movie. On a whole I felt the characters were well portrayed and acted, but was let down by a crammed script. I believe this should have been made into a mini series for TV allowing it to take full advantage of the character development and proper explanation of the insights.

Not bad if you have read the book... but if you haven't forget it!

Yet another New Age hype movie based on ancient "scrolls"

[yurshta · 4/10 · 15 August 2007]

The film gives a rather condensed version of what is contained in the book, which as far as I can tell by doing some research and investigative fact checking is largely a work of fiction. In reality, there are no ancient scrolls and if the author was hard pressed I'm sure he'd have to admit he's never laid eyes on any scrolls in ancient Aramaic found in Peru. These "valuable" texts written as usual by anonymous, were destroyed by the evil "truth haters" in the church and in the local government. That's rather strange, as all kinds of New Age crap comes out each year---hundreds of books, dozens of movies--and the Roman Catholic church doesn't seem to me to be hell bent on destroying the movement which it probably views as I do, a total crock of doody. I'm no fan of the church, mind you, but at least the ancient texts which they base their faith on are real.

It's a typical pattern of scam artists and religious hucksters to claim to have seen or translated ancient documents which unfortunately got destroyed by "evil" men or in Joseph Smith's case, got taken back to Heaven once translated. Therefore, the actual texts cannot be found in any museums like the Smithsonian, nor the translations checked by specialists in ancient languages like Coptic or Aramaic. It's a scam. In one sense, I admire anybody smart enough to come up with a great idea and make millions off it, but I couldn't do it myself, as I've no desire to mislead the public with more New Agey hokum.

Occasionally, a genuine ancient text does get found hidden away and lost for years. The Gospel of Judas, a Gnostic text, was discovered and after carbon dating and diligent study of the text, deemed authentic by experts. The Gospel of Judas was referenced as heretical around 300 C.E.. No church documents from that time mention any Celestine Prophecies as authentic, heretical or anything else.

We are evolving towards something--that much is true---but the optimism in the Celestine Prophecy is based on nothing but fiction and lies, and a philosophy built on a foundation of lies, like a castle built on sand will collapse. The harsh, ugly, overpopulated, cruel world of Blade Runner is more likely what it'll be like over the Horizon, than some Utopian Hippie Commune where all is love and peace! I tell people the truth and they hate me, but tell them what they want to hear, even if pure piffle, and one can make millions. The Celestine Prophecy is what the world wants to hear. Too bad it is a castle built on sand. Don't get me wrong. I wish to God, the Celestine Vision was reality, only it's not. No ancient philosophy at any time expressed ideas given in the Insights with the modern concept of spiritual evolution going hand in hand with biological evolution. These New Agey ideas did not exist in the ancient world and did not exist until Darwininan Evolution became well-known. That means the ideas in the Celestine Prophecies cannot be older than the 1800s C.E, and do not go back to the early B.C.E period or near the time of Jesus of Nazareth. This type of claim by New Agers is not at all unusual. Wiccans claim their brand of magic and witchcraft -- the "old religion" goes back to the stone age, when in reality no Book of Shadows has ever been known to exist prior to Gerald Gardner who lived in the 1900s and was the buddy of Aleister Crowley.

New Age gurus tell lies and claim their ideas are based on ancient teachings, when the ancients would thumb their noses at such absurdities that are preached by Gurus today. Why do they do what they do, perpetrate such fraud? Simple: there are millions of dollars to be made, and the modern Guru acquires power over his or her followers. They compete fiercely and have a strong hatred for their competition despite their claims of love for all things. Each New Age group bitter opposes the others. It's a struggle for your minds and your wallets.

But learn one thing from me, that is actually similar to one of the insights, learn to follow your own instincts and look for guidance from within. That I can agree with wholeheartedly.

A young undergoes a strange journey that leads to fantastic deeds in the Peruvian jungle

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 14 March 2014]

An adaptation of James Redfield's novel about the search for a sacred manuscript in the Peruvian rain forest . Disillusioned and temporarily rudderless, John Woodson (Matthew Settle ) is about to experience a dramatic and profound metamorphosis. Through a mysterious set of coincidences, he travels to Peru to find out strange scrolls , known as the Celestine Prophecy. In Peru Woodson meets a motley group of people (Sarah Wayne , Hector Helizondo , Jurgen Prochnow , Anabeth Gish..) with dark secrets . John gets drawn into a cobweb of mysterious events . Resistant at first, skeptical and unsure, John finds that each step he takes, each person he encounters leads him to a new awakening. It is only in this letting go that he finds his destiny and comes to understand the meaning that had escaped him when his adventure began.

Thought-provoking film that packs suspense , thrills , religious events , heartfelt message and weird philosophy . It's a crossover among various films , as it takes parts from ¨The Seventh Sign¨ , ¨The fountain ¨ , ¨The reaping¨ , and ¨The gathering¨ . The picture contains an interesting premise about the prophecy and its nine key insights, predict a new awakening that redefines human life and provides a glimpse into a completely spiritual culture on earth . It's a spiritual triller skillfully narrated with bit action and slightly entertaining. This polished film provides chills, thrills in lively mystery . It's rich and dark though sometimes confusing . The film belongs to supernatural prophecy sub-genre (along with : ¨The omen¨, ¨The seventh sign¨, ¨The Body¨ , among others). Average acting by Matthew Seattle as a young who finds himself on an adventure to Peru in search of ancient scrolls . Very good support cast plenty of respected players such as Thomas Kretschmann as Wil , Sarah Wayne Callies as Marjorie , Annabeth Gish as Julia , Hector Elizondo as Cardinal Sebastian , Joaquim de Almeida as Father Sanchez and Jürgen Prochnow as Jensen . Esoteric music and excessive use of synthesizer by Nuno Malo .

The motion picture loosely based on the book Celestine Prophecy was regularly directed by Armand Mastroianni . Armand has been directing feature films, mini series, movies of the week, TV pilots and episodic series since 1979 beginning with his first feature film "He Knows You're Alone" which was released by MGM in 1980 and featured the screen debut of Tom Hanks. That film led to a string of features including "The Killing Hour" developed with William Fredkin, "The Supernaturals," "Distortions," "Cameron's Closet" and "Double Revenge." In between shooting feature films Armand began to produce and direct episodic television shows and series like Virus , Invasión , First daughter , Citizen Jane , A Gunfighter's Pledge , The finalist , Pandemic and many others .

Muddled movie-making

[Tony43 · 3 May 2006]

If there are any secrets of life, if there are any universal truths which can guide us, this film failed to illuminate them.

While an acceptable piece of movie making, Celstine Prophecy fell down in that category as well. Its main cinematic problems -- a lead actor who basically can't act; dialog that sometimes made even good actors like Hector Elizondro look bad and a confusing, inconclusive ending that failed completely to provide the "pay off" that is usually required to send the audience away feeling satisfied.

But this picture, first of the current mysticism or spirituality films to hit the screen this year, was also supposed to be about something more than movie making. While one could debate the validity of its philosophy till the cows come home, it would seem fitting to note just a couple of things.

The film, and the book which spawned it, are both called "The Celestine Prophecy," yet no prophecy was really detailed or even outlined. There were only some vague references to scrolls written about 500 or 600 AD which seemed to predict that sometime in the future the world would be racked with war and strife. Well, gosh, that's really going out on a limb, isn't it? Since the Dark Ages were racked with war and strife and since basically the entire history of mankind is filled with war and strife, predicting more war and strife doesn't make you insightful in my view. Its like predicting hurricanes are going to hit the Gulf Coast. Only FEMA could have been caught off guard by hurricanes in hurricane season.

Anyway, the scrolls are more about insight into human behavior than anything else, or so it would appear. Whose insight? That is not only never disclosed, its not even addressed in the film. Which gives us the image of a lot of seemingly well educated people willing to change their entire lives because of eight scrolls, which may be the earliest known examples of the chain letter.

And what is the philosophy? That isn't exactly explained either. Best I could figure out, it was a cross between the "feel the force, Luke," idea from Starwars and "The Power of Positive Thinking" stuff put forth in self help books in the 50s. It went a little beyond that, as it also included the kind of "look at the beauty around you" talk that usually came from people urging you to ingest controlled substances, probably not an unusual past-time for people in the Peruvian jungle.

This is a work of fiction, so the author was probably not intending it to become the foundation of a worldwide movement. But then maybe L. Ron Hubbard had good intentions, too, but the next thing we knew, we had Tom Cruise jumping up and down on a sofa and then planting his demon seed in poor little Katie Holmes and now we've got to mount a rescue mission to get her and her child away from those people. Gee, I wonder what Peter Graves and Marty Landeau are doing these days?

That brings us back to movie making and there was some good acting in "Celestine," mostly from the girls. Full props to Sarah Wayne Callies and the always reliable Annabeth Gish who both did fine jobs with their roles.

A marginal thumbs up, but very marginal. There are better cinematic experiences around and much better philosophical ones.

please don't do it

[button7 · 2/10 · 8 January 2007]

I don't know what that other guy was thinking. The fact that this movie was independently made makes it no less terrible. You can be as big a believer as you want... the majority of this film is mindless drivel. I feel i have been insulted by having to watch the first 40 minutes of it. And that alone was no small feat. Not only is the acting terrible, but the plot is never even close to developed. There are countless holes in the story, to the point where you can hardly even call it a story anymore. I've never read the book, so I can't critique on that, but this is the first review that I've written here and it's purpose is solely to save all you viewers out there an hour and a half of your life. I can't remember the last time I couldn't even finish watching a movie. This one really takes the cake.

Book is great......Movie is terrible, don't bother

[jimmyhenry · 1/10 · 6 June 2007]

This film fails to capture any of the mystery and intrigue that the book offers. The main point of the book, the insights, are hardly even touched upon, leaving the viewer wondering exactly why everyone is making such a big deal about them and why they are willing to risk their lives.

The character development is not good at all. No background or personal development leaves the audience not really caring at all about what happens to them, and so the action sequences fall flat.

The search for the manuscripts ends abruptly, and with no real explanation, not leaving any sense of satisfaction as to what the whole search was for.

This is one of the worst adaptations of a book I have ever seen. It is horrible and a waste of time. If you have not read the book, skip the movie and read it. If you have read the book, skip the movie and reread it.

It is almost as if the point of making the movie was to discredit the book, that is how poorly done and ridiculous this movie is. It is a shame too, because it could have been good had they capitalized on it at the height of its success and they probably would have been able to get a good screenwriter and some good actors.

Please don't waste your time, READ THE BOOK!!!

Celestine Prophecy loosely based on the book

[geolwilliams · 2/10 · 9 May 2006]

I read the book Celestine Prophecy and was looking forward to seeing the movie. Be advised that the movie is loosely based on the book. Many of the book's most interesting points do not even come out in the movie. It is a "B" movie at best. Many events, characters, how the character interact and meet in the book are simply changed or do not occur. The flow of events that in the book are very smooth, are choppy and fed to the view as though you a child. The character development is very poor. Personnallities of the characters differ from those in the book. The direction is similar to a "B" horror flick. I understand that it would take six hours in film to present all that is in the book, but they screen play base missed many points. The casting was very good.

Very Bad Movie: Celestine Prophecy

[GDuncan10 · 1/10 · 24 April 2006]

The movie was TERRIBLE!!! Easily the worst movie I have seen in the past few years. One of those movies I will be able to tell people for the next three years that it was the worst movie I can think of. Thank you for giving me an answer to that burning question "What is the worst movie you have seen?" Answer: Celestine Prophecy. Trust me...I read the book, enjoyed the message and was excited to see the movie, but then, they treated the audience like we are r*tarded. There is no story and the story that is there is crippled by too much magic and coincidence. It is too bad they have to spell out the nine prophecies and can't simply weave them into a story that is entertaining to follow. They didn't spend any time on character development and it was easy to not care if any character died. It was embarrassing to be one of the few people who stuck around until the end of this incredibly boring movie. The book is pretty boring too but I enjoyed the parallels that could be seen in everyday life while you read the book. The film does not offer the same opportunity and I would suggest not seeing it if you want to continue to hold the words of the book close to your heart. DON'T SEE THIS MOVIE. Trust me.

"The Fountain" meets "The Gathering", only worse

[richard_sleboe · 1/10 · 4 February 2008]

Bingo is the game, bullshit is the name. Rarely has the screen been smeared with such a blown-up hodgepodge of half-baked conspiracy theories, puritan prudery, and new-age gibberish. The bulk of the story is set at Viciente, a Cristian resort in the Peruvian jungle. Think Tolkien's Rivendell meets Star Trek's Planet Baku, inhabited by dimwitted followers of a not-so-mysterious, but surprisingly narrow-minded cult of love and peace. Thanks to gruesome acting and tacky production design (the rainbow-colored visualization of the mysterious all-healing "energy" is particularly hideous), "The Celestine Prophecies" looks and feels like a discarded 1980s "Twilight Zone" episode. Factual errors regarding church history and nomenclature abound. I can't believe Hector Elizondo agreed to be a part of this. Maybe it was made without his consent, Bowfinger style. May the Lord have mercy on the director, the screenwriter, the author of the novel, and the poor souls who see the movie or read the book.

A Near-Miss

[BlessingsOfLove · 6/10 · 18 September 2013]

This movie was not bad, however, it should have focused more on the "insights" in the Celestine Prophecy itself, and less on violence, turmoil, strife etc. Know that this movie was trying to be "true" to the book from which it was adapted, so that much of the "dialogue" in the movie seems bookish. I enjoyed reading the insights at the end of the movie, and wish they were more apart of the movie itself; this would have made for a more enjoyable film overall. Watch this movie with an open heart, and realize that humanity is: Undergoing a profound Spiritual transformation, and that movies like this are important to watch to gain an understanding of the Shift that is taking place in our world. Know that this movie could have: Presented us with more Profound ideas to ponder, and informed use about what humanity should do to better prepare for the coming ages. Overall, this movie needs to be watched not for the violence and strife, but for the hope that it offers us all.

Not worth your time

[bkmcdermott · 2/10 · 22 May 2006]

Boring. Minimal plot. No character development. I went into this movie with high expectations from the book. It COULD have been an awesome movie. It COULD have probably become a cult classic. Nope, it was a giant let-down. It was poorly cast and had horrible special effects. It was difficult to determine who were the bad guys: the rebels or the military or the church or all of them? I am still left puzzled by certain mini-plots from the movie. I am left dumbfounded as to certain aspects of this so-called "prophecy", which is never really FULLY explained. I felt like I was watching a corny episode of a mini-series on the sci-fi channel. It seemed very much like a made-for-TV movie. Don't go see this movie. It is a waste of time AND money.

A timely movie with an inspiring and heartfelt message

[lightbringer-2 · 8/10 · 14 April 2006]

I've had the pleasure to watch this film four times, and I've enjoyed each viewing more than the last. Having read the book twice - once 11 years ago and once two months ago - I feel that the movie did an admirable job of expressing the essence and heart of the book, while keeping it within 100 minutes and palatable for the average movie viewer.

It is clearly not a polished, big-budget film, and yet it attracted many well-known and respected actors. It addresses issues of power and control in relationships, religion, and politics in a fresh and contemporary way. To me, its greatest accomplishment is bringing a New Spirituality perspective to screen - where humans are not disconnected beings in a random universe, nor sinners subject to the wrath of an angry God, but are one with everything and are co-creators of their experience of life.

I suggest you will get the most from this film by looking at it not as a blockbuster, but as a paradigm-buster.

Happy viewing!

It almost got there (mild spoilers)

[Keatonics · 7/10 · 4 September 2006]

I can't help but feel that if we (my wife, son, and I) had not read the book that we would have been totally lost. I imagine that those seeing the film without first reading the book wouldn't have been able to follow it.

The problem is the difficulty in conveying a very deep spiritual concept without too much (boring) dialog, and to their credit, they did not do that. But that might have been the film's great weakness, as well as its great strength. How do they convey the Insights in a filmic way when words and pictures just don't do them justice? How, in the course of 90 minutes can one grasp their depth when it really takes a lifetime to understand and absorb them?

The film style itself had the feel of a TV movie done in wide screen. The direction was a little choppy, the editing uneven. The cinematography bordered on greatness but lacked a crispness. The film stock was grainy, which prevented them from reaching a particular goal: a "brilliance" that would have added to 3 key elements: 1) the beautiful vistas were muted in color and did not "pop" they way they should have, 2) depth of field would have added an element of "clarity (both spiritual and filmic) if the foregrounds and backgrounds could have been kept in focus at the same time, and 3) the "vibrations" that caused them to be invisible and the "glow" when the "got it" could have been better if there was greater contrast against regular "sight."

OK. Now that that is said, it really was entertaining. True to the novel there was plenty of action that kept the viewer interested, the acting was very bold, the characters were well developed, and the story was well paced. The acting was good, especially the great Portugese actor Joaquim de Almeida as Father Sanchez, and Obba Babatundé as Miguel.

I gave this film a vote of 7/10, meaning it was above average and one I would recommend to others, but not until they have read the book.

When we saw it, it was playing in only one theater in all of Southern California, so you may have to wait until the DVD comes out. Be sure to pick up the book first.

be forewarned!!!!!!

[postmanwhoalwaysringstwice · 1/10 · 3 January 2007]

Amateurism best describes the film adaptation of the best-selling philosophical novel "The Celestine Prophecy", which follows the spiritual awakening of an out of work teacher in a mysterious village in Peru. Home video quality actors present so-called characters spewing overwrought exposition and metaphysical hokum, while the film is propelled by the extremely heavy-handed direction of Armand Mastroianni. Even though there are visible attempts at measuring up to and interesting fans of stronger fare in the vain of ABC's "Lost" or Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code", the filmmakers are hardly up to the task. This film reeks of ill-conceived mass consumption spiritual propaganda, and the results are so awful few can wade through this mess to spot a real point.

New Age drivel

[JWJanneck · 1/10 · 31 May 2006]

I went to see this movie with a crowd that consisted predominantly of "spiritual" New Age types, who, quite unlike me, very much enjoyed this movie---although according to those that also knew the book (apparently there is a book that contains more of this nonsense), the movie is not quite as good. So, if you tend to think of yourself as "spiritual", believe in or at least can tolerate stuff like "aura" and "astral body", and don't mind the frequent use of the term "energy" outside of the context of physics or technology, you might actually like the movie, and will likely even more enjoy whatever book it is apparently based on.

However, if you are mostly in touch with the physical universe, if your ability to suspend disbelief is easily exhausted by inane New Age nonsense and plots based thereon, if in addition to that you have a low tolerance for cheesy lighting effects to denote the happening of spirituality, and perhaps even expect reasonable non-wooden dialog an acting, then this is my recommendation for you regarding this movie: Stay. Away.

Don't even think about it. Tonight, this movie displaced Dungeons and Dragons as the worst movie I ever personally saw in a movie theater (I do not count movies I went to see with the expectation of them being bad, such as Plan 9 etc.). At the same time, it raised the grand total of movies I almost walked out on to two (D&D being the other one). I do not walk out on movies, not even on this one, but I should've when I first saw the visual depiction of an aura, because the New Age BS keeps on getting thicker and thicker from that point on.

The plot is about a group of people involving themselves with some old prophecies, in a quest for spiritual enlightenment and aiming at bringing mankind to the next step in its evolution. Or something like that. They actually talk about this spiritual stuff being the next step in human evolution, which should make anybody who has even the faintest idea of what human evolution is cringe. The movie is shock full with whoppers like that. Occasionally people beam to what they would certainly describe as "another dimension", or perhaps "another plane", only to become invisible to those around them who haven't yet reached enlightenment. Goodness.

At the end the director patronizes the audience by rolling the "insights" making up the prophecy, painfully slow, presumably so that we can memorize them and leave the cinema as better, more enlightened individuals.

Good things about the movie? Some very pretty nature shots, and some decent supporting performances by Elizondo and de Almeida.

I honestly can say that it seriously affects my ability to take a person seriously if they consider this movie interesting or acceptable. It really is el cheapo spiritualism of the most naive kind, and unless that's your thing, you better do something else with your time and money.

Cheese

[pommesmitsalbe · 3/10 · 13 February 2007]

My dear Lord,what a movie! Let's talk about the "special effects" first. Don't get me wrong here, I am not one of those effect fanatics but I was truly thinking that superimposition was a practice of the long gone past, mainly the 60's. So for some time I thought they might have recorded this movie a long time ago and it took them forever to cut and release it. But as far as I know they did not have cell phones in the 60's...

What I am looking for in movies is mainly a good story with a really good message. Acting is secondary, effects are secondary, I do not even mind a few little inconsistencies. However, in a movies like this bad acting, incredibility, etc. add up to make a bad movie even worse - that's what happened for me with the Celestine Prophecy.

My wife said the book was actually really good and even though I am not into all that spiritual stuff I can somehow see that it can be brought across in a believable way - the movie failed to do so.

There could be one single reason to watch this one though. If you really love cheesy movies it'll be the right one for you. If the IMDb stars were for cheesiness instead of quality I MUST have rated this movie ten stars.

By the way, three stars are for the fact that there are worse movies out there, like "Critical Mass" (look up the comments on that one - hilarious). The Celestine Prophecy is at least entertaining to a certain degree.

Beyond Dreadful

[balger · 1/10 · 1 January 2007]

This delectable fusion of New Age babble and luridly bad film-making may not "open" you up, to borrow one of the film's favorite verbs, but it might leave your jaw slack and your belly sore from laughter or retching. Based on the best-selling book by James Redfield, first (self) published in 1993, this cornucopia of kitsch tracks the spiritual awakening of an American history teacher (Matthew Settle) who, on traveling to deepest, darkest, phoniest Peru and sniffing either the air or something else more illegal. Namely what he discovers is a schlock Shangri La populated by smiling zombies who may be nuts or just heavily medicated, perhaps because they're often accompanied by a panpipe flourish and an occasional shout out from a celestial choir. Although there's a lot of talk about "energy," that quality is decidedly missing from the motley cast whose numbers include Thomas Kretschmann, Annabeth Gish, Hector Elizondo and Jurgen Prochnow, all of whom are now firmly ensconced in the camp pantheon. For those who care, the plot involves the military, terrorists and the Roman Catholic Church; Armand Mastroianni provided the inept direction while Mr. Redfield, Barnet Bain and Dan Gordon wrote the hoot of a script. In short, easily the worst film seen in 40+ years of viewing movies.

Nomation for worst film of 2006

[LazySod · 2/10 · 23 October 2006]

Somewhere in the Peruvian rain forest a number of scrolls with ancient manuscripts on them are found. The texts on these manuscript is one of the kind that makes humans change, change so much that it might be held as the next step in evolution. Some people want to bring these scrolls to the public, some want to see them destroyed because they threaten their lifestyles. Somewhere in between the two groups inevitably collide.

Let me start with stating that I am not a spiritual guy. I'm an atheist, and believe in nothing but myself. I do believe that positive action towards others is the only way to receive positive actions back, but that is how far I go. No further. This film is highly spiritual. Setting out the world and the people living on it as a constant stream of energy going from the one point to the other, feeding the ones sending and receiving it. So, this film was bound to fail for me. I didn't know that, as I went into it knowing nothing about it (which is the same way as I go into just about all films I see).

Still. I tried watching this film like it was, doing the same what I do with any film - trying to accept the premises it makes as the truth for the duration of the film. When I managed to do that I was confronted with the film as itself. And that included a lot of bad acting. Acting so bad it is worse than what you get to see watching the average TV-drama. People with blank expressions on their faces, just smiling away the hours of the day, people reading their lines without feeling their value.

So. When the film ended I was glad it was over because it meant I could go home. For me this film is an absolute waste of perfectly good celluloid. Not even worthy to be broadcast on television. A crap theme played so badly it hurt the eyes.

2 out of 10 completely wasted spirits.

invitation

[Kirpianuscus · 2 March 2018]

For me, it is a seductive invitation for read the book. because it is too difficult to give the right adaptation for "The Celestine Prophecy". and, if you do not read the book, all is reduced at noble message and gorgeous images. but it is more. this is the lead motif for who I am not convince to compare the book and its adaptation. becaus, director,, actors, cinematography , each, together are parts from an admirable project and it is a big mistake to pretend more. the choice is your - a real usefull book and a beautiful film. as pieces of the same thing. who has many opportunities. to change yourself.

Plodding through the insights

[Bernie4444 · 6/10 · 26 February 2024]

John Woodsen (Matthew Settle) a history teacher finds himself out of a job. He runs into an old friend that intrigues him with a story of a great historical find in Peru. All of a sudden, he gets a pamphlet about Peru and finds a last-minute canceled seat to Peru. Think something is happening here? Yet, it is just the beginning of an adventure.

Seems that no one wants to tell him or us what it is all about until we experience it. What we find is insightful but at the cost of having to listen to boring stilted dialog and people that look like druggies.

The book though interesting is that it does not contain any unique ideas. The writing is nominal but is designed to put you in a different view of reality. The problem came when trying to express this in the visual media. If you had not read the book first the storyline and purpose are hard to follow as they spend more time implying than explaining.

James Redfield was clearly over his head as a screenwriter but at least he was honest. His mistake was recruiting Barnet Bain who botched "What Dreams May Come" (1998) to help botch "The Celestine Prophecy" (2006). Strange but I imagined that John Woodsen would be much older and better-rounded. Maybe there will be a sequel as it has been set up in this film.

Eastern Mysticism

[tjones4404 · 1/10 · 26 January 2007]

This movie is nothing but a religious tract promoting classic Hinduism and New Age Occultism dressed up with Western images to be swallowed by those who are ignorant of foundational religious comparisons. Basic tenants of Hinduism contain elements of reincarnation. (Some of the characters appear both in the present time and also in the 1600's) obviously reincarnated. God is an impersonal force. Animal life and plant life are all the same. (This is Pantheism). Redfield has tried to mix Eastern Mysticism with Western Christianty. His attempt at syncretism may fool or confuse those who are not seekers of truth but this movie is a feeble excuse for any ultimate reality. As the ad in the old Berkeley Barb used to say for $10.00 will show you how to start your own religion. As one famous prophet has said, "Use the Force Luke".

Possibilities of the Human Future

[sherryblu · 8/10 · 2 June 2006]

The movie was good enough to remind me of the ideas I started to understand about 10 years ago when I read the book. At that time, the book had become a slow underground success, and when it started getting a lot of attention, the literary critics tended to bash it like they are bashing this movie. As a modern-day movie goer, I would like to have seen a more polished and better executed movie to portray these ideas, BUT it still reached me, and I was inspired again, even more than I was by the book because there has been time for these insights to gestate in me. Human evolution. Spiritual evolution. This movie is more about the insights than the story that encases them. So if you are interested in possibilities of the future human journey, you just might get what you are looking for in this film.

I think it was pretty good

[andrei-adishor · 6/10 · 26 February 2008]

I saw it last night and i think it is pretty good. I didn't read the book so maybe there are some derails from the original story. It is interesting that it gives you something to think about. I think they give you a new perspective over life, over the nature of our existence and in a way this "Prophecy" is like a way that enables you to see things that are beyond the physical eyes and what science is thinking about. The dialogues i think were OK, but you have to be on the spot and follow closely, otherwise you will not understand them. Is not a girl friend-in your arms-and kissing-movie. And again, like in other movies (The Body with Banderas and others movies) you see again the position of Church against things that might change their position in society. It's not the best adaptation of the original book but it's OK. Bye all

Just not worth your time.

[jasonhanders · 1/10 · 25 December 2006]

This movie is just not worth your time. Its reliance upon New-Age mysticism serves as its only semi-interesting distraction. The plot is one that has been re-cycled countless times.

I was only prompted to even spend the time to put in a comment when I noted that some have tried to prop-up the reputation of this drivel. Their motivation & objectivity is dubious, since they encourage you not to look at the movies faults, but at its well intentioned message of New Age consciousness.

So would it be alright for some twenty to thirty Evangelical Christians, or Islamic Fundamentalists to pour in positive ratings about movies/television that support their views? In spite of the poor qualities of production, or the lack of truth in any of its supposed historic basis? I hope not.

I am sure the followers will come right behind me to say flowery things about this movie, in spite of the truth.

Interesting ideas but made into a rather dull movie.

[TxMike · 16 September 2007]

Based on the trailer for this movie we thought surely its IMDb rating was too low. Now we understand why it is what it is.

There is some mention of a discovery of ancient scrolls in the 1600s in Peru, scrolls which were then hidden until discovered in modern times. Although the Dead Sea scrolls are not mentioned, the author surely must have been motivated by their discovery. Here the scrolls outline ways of living your life to amplify energy between yourself and others, and to discover a way to view heaven while still here on Earth. That is oversimplifying it terribly, but that is my gist of a description.

It is a subject that would make a good 20-minute drama, but stretching it to 100 minutes means some adversarial plot elements must be introduced. Conventional religion in Peru seems to feel threatened by these scrolls, so a plot, even involving the local Catholic bishop, has characters fleeing the militia. Add to that some rebels which introduce additional elements of conflict and gunfire.

Most of the cast are second-tier actors, and watching them makes it clear why the really good actors are so good. The acting and dialog border on amateurish at times. I could not recommend this movie to anyone I know.