Man, Disney must really have it bad for Madeleine L’Engle, don’t they? There are two points in this film where a character would say that they are underwhelmed, and they couldn’t have offered a more accurate description of what sitting through A Wrinkle in Time feels like. The latest adaptation of L’Engle’s novel by acclaimed director Ava DuVernay, this movie tries to aim high but falls very short of greatness, and what we have is a disappointing trainwreck of poorly executed setpieces, some lacklustre acting, hokey dialogue and a laughably bad Oprah. There are certain scenes and scenarios where it feels as though its heart is in the right place and the emotional points land, but for the most part, this film is borderline gobbledegook and the visual palette is so bizarre and trippy, one wonders if someone took too many drops of LSD when designing it.
The first hour or so feels like one of those original TV movies you’d normally find on the Disney Channel, but given a much bigger budget and more A-list talent, yet has all the same corny, pretentious nonsense that you’d normally associated with those type of movies. The original source material dealt with a lot of dark yet relevant themes and topics whilst also having strong religious overtones to it, and all of that rich meaty material is stripped away to the bare bones of it, just like the similarly ill-fated 2007 film adaptation of The Golden Compass. This also has many of the same ambitions and trappings of the film adaptations of Bridge to Terabithia and The Lovely Bones in that those movies had good intentions with great performances and talented filmmakers behind them yet failed to capture why their respective novels were so important and resonated with their core audiences.
Also, it suffers from recycling the bog-standard cliches that have been done to death so many times, including main characters that are the destined chosen ones, the power of love vanquishing all, and the happily ever after. Plus, there are even generic bullies that are so shallow that it’s hard to believe that DuVarney allowed this considering that her last film, Selma, offered a very realistic portrait of how bullies work. Admittedly, there are some impressive visuals to be found and there is at least one impressively handled emotional moment between the main character and her father played by Chris Pine that will probably leave some feeling misty-eyed. In fact, any emotional moment involving the main character is pretty solid and that’s all down to rising star Storm Reid who gives a very grounded and nuanced performance. There’s no denying that Reid is the only one that emerges with her head held high, and if she manages to survive this film’s lukewarm reception, then she is guaranteed to be a major star to watch out for in the near future.
The others don’t fare as well as Reid does however; Chris Pine is fine enough for what he’s given while the incredibly talented Gugu Mbatha-Raw is given nothing to do except worry and give moral advice. Both Zach Galifianakis and Michael Peña are wasted in glorified cameos, Levi Miller comes off like a schmuck and it’s unclear Deric McCabe’s performance as Charles Wallace is so bad it’s hilarious or so bad it’s bad. As for the three “fairy godmothers” in this film, Mindy Kaling is perfectly fine and is the only one that closely resembles what the book was capturing, but Reese Witherspoon is insufferably annoying and actually quite scary with her wide-eyed expressions and manic tics she displays. However, both of them pale in comparison to the glorious disaster that is Oprah Winfrey, who is completely impossible to take seriously given her extreme fashion sense, which makes her look like the wacky relative of Tina Turner’s Aunty Entity from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.
Madeleine L’Engle once said that the key to great storytelling for children was that they could afford to “be childlike and not childish”, and with this adaptation of her book, it’s pretty clear that they went with the childish route. It fails to capture the importance and meaning of the original book while also feeling incredibly shallow and frankly lazy in its execution, which is shocking considering that Ava DuVernay in the past has been anything but lazy considering her extraordinary past filmography. Yes, there are perhaps one of two emotional moments that worked well, Storm Reid is phenomenal, and there can be wondrous sights to be seen, but A Wrinkle in Time reeks of a movie that had the meat and guts ripped out of it, leaving an empty carcass that will likely leave audiences feeling underwhelmed. Then again, this film did have a giant Oprah in an aluminium chicken suit with Goku hair and Jem glitter makeup, so that’s got to count for something, right?
A WRINKLE IN TIME / DIRECTOR: AVA DUVERNAY / SCREENPLAY: JENNIFER LEE, JEFF STOCKWELL / STARRING: STORM REID, OPRAH WINFREY, REESE WITHERSPOON, MINDY KALING, LEVI MILLER, DERIC MCCABE, CHRIS PINE, GUGU MBATHA-RAW, ZACH GALIFIANAKIS, MICHAEL PENA / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
