Winter’s Tale movie review

Movie Title: Winter’s Tale

PG-13, 2 hours 9 minutes

Grade: B-

In a Nutshell: Not to be confused with Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, this time-traveling tale is filled with a wonderfully talented cast: Colin Farrell (Total Recall), Jessica Brown Findlay (“Downton Abbey”), Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind), William Hurt (Kiss of the Spider Woman), Eva Marie Saint (On The Waterfront), Russell Crowe (Gladiator), and Matt Bomer (White Collar: The Complete First Season). Will Smith surprises in an evil role as Lucifer.

This chick flick has a little touch of Somewhere in Time romantic magic, but with even more fantastical whimsy that requires a suspension of belief to enjoy and sometimes to understand. The cinematography is visually stunning, but the film is a bit of a slushy mess, like a New York winter. Still, there are some profound moments of truth in a film that tries very hard to inspire and dream.

Uplifting theme: We are told at the beginning of the movie “What if the stars are not what we think? What if the light from afar doesn’t come from the rays of distant suns, but from our wings as we turn into angels? Destiny calls to each of us and there is a world behind the worlds where we are all connected, all part of a great and moving plan. Magic is everywhere around us. You just have to look. Look, look closely. For even time and distance are not what they appear to be.”

One of the demons says to Lucifer “No matter how far we tip the scales our way, no matter how many of them we turn dark, nothing seems to break their capacity for hope. They pass it back and forth like the flu at a pre-school fair. We’re losing, Lucifer.”

Things I liked:

I love movies about hope. Hope is a powerful thing.
I love movies with twists.
Absolutely beautiful movie score by Hans Zimmer and Rupert Gregson-Williams.

Things I didn’t like:

The film is written, produced and directed by one person: Akiva Goldsman. Perhaps a few more perspectives could have helped the movie flow better and clean up the plot holes and narrative problems.
I felt like I was missing something by not having read the book first.
The idea that we go through life with all of its hardships, pains and sorrows only to become a star in the end seemed unsatisfying when what you really want is for the star-crossed lovers to be reunited.

Inspiring lines:

“Is this why we love at all, to save?” – Peter Lake
“What if we are all unique and the universe loves us equally, so much so that it bends over backwards across the centuries for each and every one of us and sometimes we are just lucky enough to see it?” – Beverly Penn
“No life is more important than another and nothing has been without purpose. Nothing. What if we are all part of a great pattern that we may some day understand? And one day, when we have done what we, alone, are capable of doing, we get to rise up and reunite with those we have loved the most forever embraced?” – Beverly Penn