ArtistGrl

The good: creative set design. Some interesting costumes and CGI. There was also one good song and a couple of ok ones.

The bad: long and boring, been there done that kind of vibe as it comes to character interactions. Keeping it shallow for the lowest common denominator, pretty much a manifestation of Glinda's character as a film.

The ugly: Very thin plot for such a long movie and still no resolution. You will have to wait for the sequel, it literally ends with a "To be continued...". Terrible casting. Zero charm or relatability. No chemistry between any of the human characters, it's seriously hard to say who was more insufferable and a worse actor. I kind of hoped a house would fall over all of them and the animals would take over this mess.

So I've managed to watch almost 2 episodes of this before giving up. If this was an original show, I may have given it the benefit of a doubt, but the creators here have taken on one of the best Sci Fi novels ever written and handled it with the reverse Midas touch, hiring an untalented cast and writing in a bunch of utterly unbelievable characters. Seriously it was easier to believe in the supernatural events depicted than that moronic characters like Auggie or John could pass as groundbreaking scientists. Everything in the book was changed into a stupider version of events. Beautifully written storylines were rushed or discarded altogether, and yet production found the time to graciously spice things up with some unnecessary nudity. It's sad to see what Netflix seems to think of its brainless mass audience. Sad enough for me to cancel my subscription for good.

I can only hope that one day another network might pick this trilogy up and treat it with the respect it deserves.

Giving this more than 1 star for the visual effects and the China storyline.

Before screening this film at The Toronto Film Festival, the presenter asked the audience not to spoil it. This request limits the possibility of a thorough review, as there is not much that can be said about it's plot without giving away it's one trick pony.

Genre-wise, the film steers between sci-fi, drama and grotesque comedy, relying on a single outstretched joke that becomes quite tiresome after multiple iterations. Some members of the audience were laughing throughout, but it may have just as well been a coping mechanism to deal with content that wasn't entirely easy to stomach.

There wasn't any actual beginning or an end, just references to a backstory that was never fully explored. There was no resolution offered here either, making it feel as though the writers have given up halfway.

What did hold this together and stopped me from walking out (in addition to my middle row seat), was the excellent acting by Sterling K. Brown & Mark Duplass. They were extremely believable, despite the ridiculousness of the plot, adding to the overall atmosphere of discomfort that it evoked.