Excellent Overall

Rating: 8/10 (16 August 1999)

One of the most enjoyable movies this year, with a most excellent ending. This is a movie best seen without reading any reviews, including this one. So don't read further if you haven't seen it.
I found the pacing to be a bit slow in the first 45 minutes, but the wait is well worth it. Excellent performances by all, with Willis surprisingly effective and the young boy (Haley Joel Osment)'s being Oscar-caliber. A thought provoking movie with a number of good scares. While highly recommended, the movie does contain some (very few) false cheap scenes, including an early one involving a picture frame and a later one involving a videotape.
For an opposite review, I would recommend the brutal (and pretty funny) review in the New York Times by Steven Holden, where he gives the movie the "Touched by an Angel" award for "gaggingly mawkish supernatural kitsch" and where he gives Willis the "Robin Williams Award" for "ineffable, twinkling, half-smiling misty-eyed empathy with adorable tots."
Interesting factoid: Toni Collette, who gives a great performance playing the young boy's mother in this film, was the overweight distraught Muriel in "Muriel's Wedding." Quite an actress!