First Take: A Wrinkle in Time- I feel like I’ve aged 20 years

SYNOPSIS:

After the disappearance of her scientist father, three peculiar beings send Meg, her brother, and her friend to space in order to find him.

Once again, the Americans got this film before the UK did, but that doesn’t stop the obligatory review from being put out. The newest addition to the Disney fold has been hyped for months, and with that hype, a lot of expectations were placed upon it. Having seen the film, I should have seen the warning signs- it simply did not deliver.

Ava DuVernay does a good job directing this adaptation, and while the pacing isn’t perfect, working to a script from Jennifer Lee and Jeff Stockwell, she is able to deliver a film that does get you thinking, especially considering the film’s themes. But unfortunately, that script leaves a lot to be desired, especially with the expositionary dialogue as well as some glaring plot holes. It’s shot beautifully by Tobias Schliessler, but the visuals do rely too much on CGI rather than in-camera effects- however, the score from Game of Thrones and Westworld stalwart Ramin Djwadi certainly makes up for it.

Performance wise, the leads are good, with Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling putting in some great work alongside a starmaking performance from Storm Reid, and alongside a supporting cast which includes Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Pena, Zach Galifinakis and Chris Pine, the film is able to do a good job at adapting Madeleine L’Engle’s book for modern audiences- but with the plot holes and over-reliance on CGI, cinemagoers may not take to this film in the right way.

THE VERDICT

A Wrinkle in Time is decent, but struggles from simple and easy to rectify mistakes- as a result, it may not go down as well with audiences as Disney would like to see. It doesn’t stop it from being a good piece of entertainment, but it will not perform as well as expected.

RATING- 2.5/5