Like a mythical white-winged horse, Winter'€™s Tale has audience hopes soaring high upon entering the movie theater, only to bring them down to a hard and slippery landing.

With a cast ensemble that includes Collin Farrell, Russell Crowe and Will Smith '€” who between them share five Academy Awards and two Golden Globes '€” Winter'€™s Tale seems to have good arrows on its quiver.

Drawing the bow is Akiva Goldsman, who won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the 2001 film, A Beautiful Mind '€” the year'€™s Best Picture '€” making his directorial debut in the feature film.

In Winter'€™s Tale, Goldsman adapted the film from a best-selling book by the same title by Mark Helprin and set a quite ambitious target, luring adults to immerse themselves in a story about magical and eternal love and the power of miracles and self-determination.

Immediately after the prologue, the film'€™s ride already feels shaky when we realize 37-year-old Farrell is playing 20-something Peter Lake, an orphan who has grown through the turn of the 20th century on the streets of a mythical New York.

In this fictional world, angels and demons are behind day-to-day life, everyone and everything is connected by rays of light and miracles are destined but fate can be canceled. Needless to say, it is a hard premise to deliver outside a children'€™s book, but we are willing to give the film the benefit of the doubt.

Peter is a natural mechanic and a burglar who is taken under the wing of fierce crime lord Pearly Soames (Crowe), but he is breaking out of the relationship to follow his own path.

Pearly, a demon whose main purpose is turning humans away from the light, sends his mob to chase down Peter, who escapes after a sudden meeting with his guardian angel '€” a flying white horse.

Peter is set to leave the city to hide from Pearly'€™s wrath when the horse directs him to a stately mansion.

Following the horse'€™s will, Peter enters the house as a burglar. He meets with the daughter Beverly Penn (Jessica Brown Findlay) of the wealthy owner of the house, who despite suffering from severe fever and terminal tuberculosis, is left alone in the house.

Peter instantly falls in love and sets his heart on saving the girl from death.

Both then set off for the country, where Pearly cannot be reached under the prohibition order from his demon boss Lucifer (Smith) who wears a T-shirt under his suit jacket and blingy earrings.

Pearly, however, is a resourceful demon and manages to pull the strings that result in the death of Beverly, sending Peter to desperation.

Peter becomes an immortal and is sent to present day New York with no memory of his past.

Peter meets journalist Virginia Gamely (Jennifer Connelly), who helps dig into his past and rediscovers his identity and life purpose.

The plot of Winter'€™s Tale follows a uncomfortable stride for 118 minutes, with dim sparks of romance between Farrell'€™s and Brown Findlay'€™s characters.

The film does have a number of heartwarming moments '€” as fairy tales are obliged to provide '€” and it portrays the beautiful look and scenery of old New York, but unfortunately it ends being less than the sum of its parts.

A happy-ending can be seen in the film'€™s early minutes and the greatest mystery of the film seems to be what kind of pitch Goldsman delivered to get Farrell, Crowe, Smith and Connelly on board the project.

Winter'€™s Tale is not a good romantic movie but it is definitely a good case of questionable artistic and executive cinematography decisions.

Winter'€™s Tale
(118 minutes, Warner Bros. Pictures)

Director: Akiva Goldsman
Screenwriter: Akiva Goldsman
Cast: Colin Farrell, Jessica Brown Findlay, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt, Eva Marie Saint, Russell Crowe, Will Smith
Producers: Akiva Goldsman, Marc E. Platt, Michael Tadross, Tony Allard

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