Do you agree or disagree that the renaissance wasn't this huge movement that we now think of it as?   was it a thing?

I disagree, although it's an interesting concept to suggest that it wasn't a huge movement. The Renaissance wasn't "huge" in the sense that it did not happen quickly or everywhere at once. However, the change that we see during the Renaissance in technology, philosophy, politics and culture is profound. Comparing the Middle Ages to the Age of Exploration (post 1492), the difference is extremely enormous. However, this change was gradual and many Medieval ideas and practices lasted well into and even beyond the Renaissance. 

In short, yes, the Renaissance was a thing. Although it didn't happen particularly quickly, in the few hundred years that it lasted humanity returned to a trend of progress that had been much slower and less consistent during the more than 1000 years of Middle Ages. Even if  many things remained the same during the Renaissance, its significance is really the projection that it put humanity on, setting the stage for all the progress that came after.