To be honest, I have not read A Wrinkle in Time from Madeleine L'Engle because a couple of priorities. But, I have heard a bit of a mixed reaction who have read the actual novel saying that the story is a bit simple mixed with a few gimmicks regarding time for a girl to search her father. After watching the trailer, I had somewhat low expectations because even though the visuals blew me away, the story did not quite interest me because of its set-up of its synopsis. It is like I have seen the story before in which a child is searching for his/her/their father. But, in director Ava DuVernay's hands, I was hoping for something quite special. Well, unfortunately, the result is visually ambitious but the overall movie falters in its narrative.
Meg (Storm Reid) is a troublesome teenager who is worried about his father, Alex (Chris Pine), being missing for four years. Teachers are speculating as to why Alex is gone, one implies that he may be having an affair. Kids including Veronica Kiley (Rowan Blanchard) are taunting Meg over her father's disappearance. Meg's brother, Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) calls the teachers out of it before bringing unwanted attention to Meg. After hitting Veronica with a basketball after making a snide remark about her family, Meg is sent to Principal Jenkins' (Andre Holland) office when he says that Meg is using his father's disappearance as an excuse to act out.
Later on, a mysterious woman named Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon) appears at their house and she tells Kate (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), Meg's and Charles' mother, that a tesseract is real and Alex is fine. While on a walk with their dog, they meet Calvin (Levi Miller), Meg's classmate, who thought it was cool that she stood up to Veronica at school. Later on, they are met by Mrs. Whatsit again but along with Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling) and Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey) and they transport the children across the universe and land on another planet called Uriel. They are on a mission to find Meg's father now.
Look, I need to be blunt with this review because I admire director Ava DuVernay's passion and ambition in this movie. Both are noticeable in its visuals and a few of the characters as they are developed well. I will get to that in a moment. I am glad that DuVernay is getting an opportunity to direct a $100 million movie (actually, the first nine-digit budget directed by a woman of color). Yes, women and people of color should get opportunities, if there are a few successful movies in their repertoire.
However, I am not reviewing her deserved opportunity, I am reviewing the result. The product. The result is a narrative mess that is almost incoherent especially in its second half. To be honest, I did not care for so much of the build-up of the world. It is a bit too much build-up to get to the purpose of the movie. The visuals are dazzling and quite vibrant but it detracts from the whole narrative that it loses so much focus from the character development and also its quick conclusion. The conclusion wraps so quickly and neatly that it is like they did not have enough budget or time left to finish with depth or emotional pay-off.
Storm Reid is the star of the movie and gives the only great performance that embraces her tenacity and strength even without guidance from the Misses. I felt her pain because of her father is missing as she and Chris Pine have good chemistry as father and daughter and that is where I felt most of the emotion from the movie. I did not feel anything from the other child performances and the Calvin character played by Levi Miller came out of nowhere and looked like a pawn. And, unfortunately, the characters played by Oprah, Witherspoon and Kaling are just there to appear with their over-the-top costumes surrounded by gorgeous visuals. The Misses were forgettable characters. They don't have as much screen time as most of that is dedicated to the children.
I understand the theme of strength and love in this movie as it attempts to embrace the positive message but that embrace is not earned because of the muddled narrative. And, to be honest, I was a bit bored by the movie as the time-travel did not appeal to me whatsoever. It is a big disappointment from DuVernay as she has made two great movies: Selma and her riveting documentary, 13th. The overall result is that the movie reduces its storyline as it wraps its running time too quickly. There are bursts of goodness in a rather tepid narrative.
*1/2
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