I had mixed emotions going into A Wrinkle in Time.
I’d read the book by Madeleine L’Engle and really liked it (read as a girl and
recently with an adult perspective – it is a classic for a reason). I had also
read so-so reviews, but the previews, to me, looked promising. Drum roll
results – I give it a B-/ C+. I believe Ava DuVernay, the director, had
grandiose plans and she did okay. But there are a lot of buts – like at times
the movie felt slow. I was ready to tesseract (space/time travel) into some new
scenes. I’m not going to discuss story line – read the book to experience
a lot of grand ideas about science, and girls, and confidence, and empowerment.
I will say that Storm Reid, our heroine Meg, is quite good.
I look forward to seeing her in more projects. She seemed “real”. As for the
fairy godmothers of sorts – Reese Witherspoon was annoying, Mindy Kaling did
not have much to do, and Oprah played Oprah. Her Mrs. Which is supposed to make
pronouncements and help Meg see her strengths, etc. I was very conscious
that it was Oprah on the screen doing her Oprah thing well, and when was
Dr. Phil going to show up? That’s a problem. The younger brilliant
brother, Charles Wallace (Derie McCabe) was too winsome and precocious. I kept
thinking of the kid who plays Young Sheldon on television and I felt he would
have been better in the role. See, I had time to think about this random
stuff while watching the movie.
But then some of the stuff would work, and I was certainly
rooting for Meg to find her Dad (Chris Pine), to get confidence in herself, to
realize that everyone has issues (even the mean girls in school), and to get
out of her rut. I was happy with the final results and a lot of the special
effects were cool. For my matinee dollars, I was entertained. However, I think
this is a movie many will be happy to snooze through on Netflix on a Saturday
night. Your own microwave popcorn is cheaper than the theater. So, I’ve saved
you some dollars. Use them to buy the book and read it!! That’s the Wrinkle
in Time to explore.
