In the spirit of, well, spirits, Warner Bros.' "Jack Frost" opens today. The holiday drama tells the story of a father who dies tragically, then returns to Earth one year later as a snowman. Jack is no ordinary snowman,though. He's a walking, talking heap of chill on a mission to right the wrongs he never could as a human. Priority No. 1 is to make sure his family knows how much he loved them.

Does this premise sound familiar? Substitute the snowman (voiced by Michael Keaton) with a glowing Patrick Swayze, move the drama from the crisp, white cool of Colorado to the grit of New York City, and "Jack Frost" becomes a winterized remake of "Ghost." Though "Frost" is being promoted as a movie for the kids, its message is aimed at the same adults who believed in Swayze's ghost and who cheered for Nicholas Cage's angel in "City of Angels." In fact, you can add "Frost" to the growing list of flicks ("What Dreams May Come," "Meet Joe Black") that try to sell an idea many aging boomers find mighty comforting: that mere mortals with good intentions can somehow cut a deal with death.

Understandably, "Frost" producer Mark Canton disagrees. "All these movies are different," he tells EW Online. "This movie is not about death, it's about paying attention while you're alive." Still, Canton concedes there's an element of death-defying fantasy that will appeal to adults. Michael Keaton's character "does die, but he's conjured up again by his son," says Canton. "It is a fantasy in that sense." It's the same lucrative fantasy that makes "Touched By an Angel" a hit TV series and the schlocky "Celestine Prophecy" a literary best-seller. Welcome to the exploitation of the afterlife.