A Wrinkle in Time Reviews

Ava DuVernay’s camera is one that is best when the scales are smaller, and she can obsess over the contours and textures of an actor’s face. Not only the stellar adult players in this ensemble, but Storm Reid and Deric McCabe’s surprising and pleasing central performances. It’s a shame that so much of this gets lost in the storm of CGI overload that A Wrinkle in Time gets submerged in.

 

Based on Madeleine L’Engle’s classic children’s novel, this story largely follows the familiar beats: bullied Meg Murray, her genius younger brother, Charles Wallace, and her friend/potential love interest, Calvin, get whisked away to far flung lands in an adventure of self-discovery and newfound maturity. There are three celestial beings, think of them as benevolent Weird Sisters, a missing father, a nebulous IT that functions as the main adversary, and a vast panorama of worlds.

 

You can’t fault her for ambition in bringing this story to the screen, but those ambitions are routinely undone by garish CGI vistas that look more like the actors are standing outside of them instead of being immersive. Reese Witherspoon’s transformation from celestial witch to flying leaf-like creature is a case study in rubbery, overly cartoony imagery that just doesn’t blend with its surroundings. The film goes on in this manner in practically every new environment we encounter.

 

A similar problem occurs with certain casting choices. Movie stars are occasionally helpful, like Oprah Winfrey’s baggage as a spiritual advisor, empathic host, and royal highness of pop culture lends itself well to Mrs. Which, but sometimes are more distracting if not utilized properly, like Zach Galifiankis’ Happy Medium that never melds with the overall vibe. It feels too much like one of his improvisations than a fully realized character.

 

These distractions eventually pile-up and bury any positives A Wrinkle in Time had going for it. Nothing can quite stop or diminish the power of Reid’s reading of Meg and providing a complex center for the rest of the film to revolve around. If only the rest of it had been as grounded, ironically, as her.

Even though this movie turned out to be a massive critical and commercial flop, I was still curious to see if it was really so bad. Well, I have to agree that the damned thing was indeed pretty weak. Basically, it was supposed to be some kind of cute, whimsical and perhaps even inspiring tale but it just never worked. Indeed, it turned out to be  a mix of really random and weird scenes. To make things worse, most of the dialogues was filled with some incomprehensible mambo-jambo involving some Camazotz, some tesseract and three mysterious misses who really came from nowhere. Seriously, after 15 minutes, I pretty much gave up trying to understand what the hell was going on and I hope the book made more sense. At least, I hoped it would be visually appealing and the first scenes were promising but, even in this area, it was still a failure and it has been a while since I have seen such an underwhelming overdose of CGI. At least, Storm Reid had some charisma and displayed some potential in spite of this poor material. But, above all, I felt bad for Ava DuVernay. Indeed, it was such a historical event that a black woman had the opportunity to direct such a big budget feature but she completely failed and I really hope she will get another chance in the future since she is so talented. Anyway, to conclude, I was just bored by the damned thing and I don't think it is really worth a look.

This was probably the best translation from the book that can be expected. The book was trippy, with a little bit of science and a whole lot of magic, and this movie followed suit. Impressive visuals helped counter the rushed pace and confusing story. If you haven't read the book, I would not recommend seeing this movie, since it felt like it was a companion to the book, relying on the audience to understand things that were unexplained. Parts were a bit cringey, but it was an overall enjoyable experience. 7/10