We'll start with the good. The CGI action scenes are visually impressive. And there are many. So many, in fact, and with such little space between them, that they consume the story, with no time for the characters to do anything but ride the roller coaster. Also, it was nice to cram in a few seconds of cool characters we haven't seen in the MCU. I mean, it would have been cooler if they'd mattered more. In fact, they could have taken those characters and made a whole other movie better than this one, but we'll leave it at that.

Now to unpack the problems. Chief among them, the titular character doesn't make a single story-driving decision until an hour and a half in, and then it's debatable whether that even counts. There's literally a scene where presented a lock made by another DS with a watch-shaped hole in the center, he needs Christine to tell him how to open it. He's a dog chasing his tail! The theme of his god complex interfering with his personal life and being counterproductive to his goals is brought up. Yet his progress in that regard is so minimal that he may as well have been replaced by a hologram of himself.

The female characters shoehorned to the forefront of Doctor Strange's sequel, unfortunately, went the Captain Marvel route of strength over depth. A complete lack of nuance. Supposedly smart characters make painfully stupid decisions. They try to pass off sob backstories as development when how they react to situations tells us nothing special. But boy do they get screen time to showcase how power and awesomeness! Even the cameos, even when it doesn't make sense. As for themes, filmmakers figured the motif of 'you just need to believe in yourself to unlock your hidden power, girl' still counts as original. Makes sense - it fell so flat with Captain Marvel that no one will remember. Include LGBT relationship, check! But should it even count when it's utterly inconsequential? Meh.

I would love to see the same premise fleshed out with some decent writing, and appropriately titled Wanda vs Strange, split into at least two films.

Wanda could have been finding more plausible ways to relive her fantasy (sorry, but there is no universe where kids are that nauseatingly perfect). It would start rather innocently then quickly spiral out of control as she succumbed to the temptation to abuse her power more and more. We could see regression and struggle so that her story carries emotional weight. From the very beginning, Doctor Strange would have pushed the what's-her-name dimensional portal girl (that forgettable) into accepting the responsibility of learning to control her power. As she tries, she's crippled by painful memories, and shuts down. Frustrated, Dr. Strange is tempted to take matters into his own hands... In this Wanda and Strange, we have two sides of the same coin, one loving but selfish, another detached but selfless. Between them, a girl who more than anything needs a wise mentor, but is afraid of confrontation and struggles to discern healthy relationship from abuse - when to accept correction, assert herself or run. Being uniquely qualified to run, she is the only one who can allow others to help her.

Man that would be a cool film.