The sweet sincerity of “Miracles From Heaven” makes it hard to dislike. If you can’t be sentimental when dealing with a dying little girl, when can you be? And, in a brilliant twist, this is a dying-kid movie in which the kid does not die. Jennifer Garner is perfectly cast as an alternately indomitable and terrified Fort Worth, Texas-area mom, Christy Beam. She is a Christian mother of three whose faith is shaken when her middle daughter Anna (Kylie Rogers, who is spirited without being cloying) is struck by a mysterious ailment that doctors at first dismiss as acid reflux or lactose intolerance. Many breathless trips to the ER reveal that the disease is a rare, incurable intestinal disorder, the only expert on which is a Boston-based specialist, Dr. Nurko (a delightful Eugenio Derbez), who has a 9-month waiting list for appointments. A Texas doctor tells Christy that spaces open up only when patients no longer need Nurko’s care. “You mean when sick people get better?” she asks. “No, that’s not what I mean,” he says. The clock is ticking. Medical expenses are piling up and the house has already been remortgaged so that Christy’s husband (Martin Henderson) can get his veterinary business going. As her daughter weakens, Christy decides to take the girl to Boston and beg for an appointment. “Miracles,” a wholesome slice of niceness shot in a honey glow suggesting a Metamucil commercial and stocked with friendly, loving supporting characters such as a gently funny pastor (John Carroll Lynch), is based on the travails of a real family: As seen in the closing credits, the Beams are almost as adorable as their screen counterparts. Their story took a bizarre twist when Anna fell inside a hollow tree and the Lord seemed to change his mind about the way he was treating them. If you don’t believe in such things, the movie suggests, that’s fine, but: “Spontaneous Remission From Heaven” just isn’t as good a title. Any Christian movie dealing in miracles is likely to be too sweet for some but this one is gently moving rather than pushy about its religious elements. It does take some strange detours, though, notably when a waitress (Queen Latifah) suddenly drops everything to befriend Christy and Anna and takes them on a wacky trip around Boston that does nothing to advance the plot. And a fantasy sequence involving animated butterflies and walking on clouds is a bit over the top. But then again, a child’s vision of heaven is bound to be pure cotton candy.
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