A Wrinkle in Time Film Review

Meg Murry, a 13-year-old girl, is struggling. It has been 4 years since her scientist father disappeared. One dark and stormy night a mysterious woman claiming to be Mrs Whatsit arrives. Meg and her mother, who is also a scientist, seem suspicious, especially after Mrs Whatsit reveals that Meg’s mother’s research into something called a tesseract was correct, but Meg’s adopted brother, Charles Wallace, seems to know who she is. Over the next few days Charles Wallace introduces Meg to Mrs Who and mentions the mysterious Mrs Which. The Mrs’s are not what they seem, and they take Meg, Charles Wallace and, Meg’s classmate it-boy Calvin, on a journey across the universe to save Meg’s father.

Let’s address something first, A Wrinkle in Time is a film that was attacked for its politics. It seeks to empower and promote women and people of colour in all areas of life, including civil rights and the sciences, which is a noble and commendable thing to do and I fully support it. Director Ava DuVernay is best known for her dramatic film work like 2014’s Selma and the documentary 13th. It is clear that she has a passion to push for diversity in film, and having a big name like Opera Winfrey attached adds credence to that claim. Maybe it wears its politics a little obviously, but by promoting representation through the inclusion of pictures of famous people of colour and women in the arts and sciences, it shows that its heart is in the right place.  It is a shame then that A Wrinkle in Time, despite its good intentions and ambition, cannot achieve its lofty goals.

The positives first, there is a powerful imagination in this film. DuVernay takes us to worlds that rival those of a galaxy far far away. The vivid colours of the first planet are breath-taking, we have flowers that talk in tone, a woman that can turn into a flying leaf thing, floating rocks, crystals that are placed precariously in a giant column on the second planet, the monstrosity of the force that changes our heroes through Camazotz and the world where an evil entity called ‘The It’ lives. The costumes and makeup are phenomenal and each costume change leads to something more creative and out of this world. This film has some of the most mind-bending visual effects since Doctor Strange whenever our cast is Tessering (a means by which an individual can bend space/time to travel vast distances. This is ruined by a cinematography focused entirely on close ups. There was one shot that was so close to Megs face that she could not keep inframe for a highly emotional scene. However, you cannot reach the stars on pictures alone, and here is the major wrinkle in A Wrinkle in Time, the story.

Due to the nature of adaptation, it is obvious that elements with be left out, changed, truncated, switched around, combined and adapted for the just under two hours’ worth of content that came from a book that could last a whole day. It is a challenging thing to do, however A Wrinkle in Time fumbles this. Everything rushes toward a conclusion never really taking a moment to be, to sit, to explain. This is because not only does it have to set up the world but we also have to explore it and travel the main quest to save a lost man. So while a book can take its time setting the scene for Earth, Wrinkle in Time has introductions and story to deal with.

Due to the nature of adaptation, it is obvious that elements with be left out, changed, truncated, switched around, combined and adapted for the just under two hours’ worth of content that came from a book that could last a whole day. It is a challenging thing to do, however A Wrinkle in Time fumbles this. Everything rushes toward a conclusion never really taking a moment to be, to sit, to explain. This is because not only does it have to set up the world but we also have to explore it and travel the main quest to save a lost man. So while a book can take its time setting the scene for Earth, Wrinkle in Time has introductions and story to deal with.

This leaves no time for us to get acquainted with our characters. This is particularly true of every other character other than Meg herself, Storm Reid provides a powerful lead performance full of emotion and strength, however she cannot carry the rest of the cast. Charles Wallace, played by a young actor called Deric McCabe, is an enigma that I found to be the cause of most of the films problems. He is the central source of the questions I had, like how does he know the Mrs, why does he turn evil in the end (I had to look up the fact that he had been hypnotised, all I saw in the film was a strange man reciting times tables). While not explaining the science or magic of the film is fine, it is fantasy after all, when character motivation is not explained, then that is inexcusable. Similarly we are introduced to Calvin O’Keefe who is willing to travel the universe only after 5 minutes of screen time.

While Levi Miller, of Better Watch Out and Pan fame, tries to instil some sort of personality into the character, all we are left with is a person who is there. I suppose it is fine that the Mrs’ are undeveloped as they are cyphers for more metaphysical concepts, more magic than characters. But when two out of the three leads lacks something that enables you to connect with them, it means that the film is going to fall short on an emotional level. Instead of experiencing the world with the characters, I am watching a screen with light projected on to it.

There are some painfully perplexing lines and readings that shock you out of the fantastical worlds we are placed in, and even Opera, Reece Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling can’t save that. Nothing that comes out of Charles Wallace’s or Calvin’s mouth sounds natural; it is too wordy, too literary. There is a difference between written dialogue and spoken dialogue that means artificial sounding speech is more forgivable in books, but when it is spoken out loud it becomes grating.

I would have loved A Wrinkle in Time on paper, a trippy 60’s sci-fi fantasy adventure film. I would have loved the questionable science and the awe-inspiring alien vista’s, but in reality, I didn’t. I was separated from the film, unable to be swept up in its glorious quest. This may be because I am not the right target audience, after all it is based on a book for young female readers, so maybe my opinion on it should be taken with a grain of salt. There is jolt in the story and in Charles Wallace that knocked me out of the flow and emotion of the film and there were elements that kept me from re-entering. It may have striking, colourful visuals and a great message, but a lack of emotional engagement led me to the awkward dialogue and plotting that in my mind prevented the film reaching the highs it should have and could have.

You can watch A Wrinkle in Time in cinemas now