Winter’s Tale has tons of mythic potential and an amazing cast, but falls short because most Americans fail at magical realism and should only be directed by Guillermo del Toro or directors from Spain who have been vetted by him. Magical realism needs to not only be about wonder, but be rooted in devastating, real world consequences. Winter’s Tale never made me believe that there was any real danger.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS

Winter’s Tale creates a world with demons and an actual Lucifer, but fails to create a true counterbalance-just a vague sense of miracles and a pegasus. I’m a Christian. I actually hate the Hollywood trope of angels as people who die, but I can accept the rules of a movie if it makes sense. In Winter’s Tale, there are people who became angels/stars and possibly vice versa. Shouldn’t I get something more than a vague sense of hope as being on the good side? We get to meet Pearly Soames boss so who is the person in the stableman/angel and the pegasus’ corner? You don’t have to create a spiritual world that I believe in theologically, but it has to be a complete, well thought out world-see the early seasons of Supernatural. Also, people use the source material! After watching Winter’s Tale, I read the wiki entry about the novel it is supposed to be based on. The novel is now in my Amazon Wish List. The book sounds like more than a love story with a dash of time travel. I am really happy that Kevin Corrigan gets to say that he was in a movie with Russell Crowe. Winter’s Tale needs more than vague sentiment, sparkly lights and aphorisms. It is always nice to see NYC on the big screen though. Who says, “I have a chicken.”