A Wrinkle in Time

Ava DuVernay’s beautiful and visually imaginative A Wrinkle In Time is a magical mystery tour for teenage girls. It’s a female empowerment movie that says love triumphs over evil and light trumps darkness. It says that the many teenage girls who believe they’re not good enough can find their strength and beauty, even through their flaws.

A Wrinkle in Time, faithful to the affirmative, democratic intelligence of the book, is also committed to serving its most loyal and susceptible audience. This is, unapologetically, a children’s movie, by turns gentle, thrilling and didactic, but missing the extra dimension of terror and wonder that would have transcended the genre.

So how’s the movie already? Not terrible, not great, something of a disappointment after what feels like a geological epoch of hype.

Trying to juggle complex theories of metaphysics and cosmology with simple themes of self-acceptance and the deterioration of the “darkness,” A Wrinkle in Time comes off as a disjointed and miscalculated project, rather than a visual and contemplative journey.

Movie magic is an elusive thing. A Wrinkle in Time is a bold film that takes big chances from start to finish, in a courageous effort to be something special.... But for all its scenes of characters flying and soaring and zooming here and there, it never really takes off.

It’s a pretty take on the story, but it’s also a frustratingly safe and squishy one. It’s infinitely well-intentioned, full of warm self-affirmation and positivity, and absolutely nothing about it feels emotionally authentic enough to drive those messages home.

If anything, the trouble with Wrinkle is that you never really get a sense of DuVernay’s personal touch. In fact, it feels a lot like Brad Bird’s big budget, equally smarmy 2015 Disney film, Tomorrowland. Both attempt to be so broad and universal that they feel disconnected from anything human.

Visually stunning. Follows a different format than your typical "save the cat" film would. A great diverse cast. Great messages for children and adults alike. Fresh narrative. Inspiring and Gentle. Seen in 3D 4DX

It's good it's okay it's all right like not like I'm saying it's not bad it's just okay but it's just not bad than Tim Burton's Dumbo

Dissapointing. "A Wrinkle in Time" suffers from a lot of flaws. To be honest, I'm surprised the script got passed by the producers. It's weird but the exhibition in this film is either too much or not enough, so I was at either "I get it, move on!" or "Wait, what!? Explain!." The dialogue among the humans just doesn't sound like how regular human beings speak. It doesn't help that the kids who play the three main characters aren't good actors. The two boys in particular are wanting. Between the acting and the dialogue, the love interest kid is a wedged-in, purposeless dummy, and the super-intelligent younger brother is obnoxiously precocious and a bit hard to understand sometimes. The film does have some strong parts. All the big name actors who play the alien beings did a great job. In fact, this was probably my favorite performance by Reece Witherspoon as a weird, unintentionally rude alien. Visually, the effects, the costumes, and sets are all a joy to watch. Lot of creativity there. In fact, I liked the second act. The focus on the aliens and other planets are when things got good. Unfortunately, the third act focuses on the human characters again and falls into the mistakes of the drawn-out first act. Kids may enjoy the visuals here, but If you're a parent be prepared to be bored for part of this.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

A Wrinkle In Time is at times visually stuning, and at times very cringy. The performance by the supporting cast feels like they could have casted anyone else and it wouldn't have made a difference. Storm Reid is by far the best of the movie, and her story is the most compelling. However, it isn't enough to save this trainwreck of a movie. Very dissapointed.