Fairytales have come from all sorts of places in the collective imagination, like a castle with a princess in distress, hoping a prince will come and rescue her on his noble steed. Based on the acclaimed novel, Winter’s Tale is just that; a fairytale. And the film has some classic and undeniably engrossing elements, mostly in some spirited performances. However, whether this entry is an attribute to the fairytale form is another story.

Collin Farrell (who did some of the best work of his career in the recent Saving Mr. Banks) stars as Peter Lake, making his entrance into the home of Beverly Penn, played by the lovely Downton Abbey alum Jessica Brown Findlay. Peter plans to rob the home and leave on his white horse, but when he meets Beverly, he realizes that he wants nothing more than to steal her. Russell Crowe plays archenemy Pearly Soames, a pawn to the Devil (played by Will Smith, which was definitely trying too hard, casting-wise. His role here was more for fun, than anything else). When Peter is thrown off a bridge, he is transported to the present. He forgets who he is and where he came from, butit takes him about 5 minutes to figure it out. (#wtf).

The film twists and turns from past to present, and Collin doesn’t age. Ultimately, the whole time-jumping element in the film is unnecessary, since the 2014 plot is barely explored: although intriguing, Jennifer Connelly’s involvement as Virginia Gamely is gleaned over, and the viewer is left wondering: “What the heck is the point??”.