Children's books will never be easy to adapt for new generations. Not just because of generational gaps of the state of mind when it was written, but also the expectation of holding filmmakers to the standard that a book indirectly sets (even if it doesn't translate to film). While in recent years, Ava DuVernay has established herself directing impressive urban dramas (Selma, Middle of Nowhere) and finds herself stepping into the Disney fantasy land, and while young children can have fun in her world, adults may find a few more wrinkles than expected.
The film follows Meg (Storm Reid) who is at a lost after dealing with the disappearance of her father (Chris Pine). Suddenly Meg's little brother discovers three witches who help Meg, her brother and a close friend try to discover why their father hasn't come home.
Ava DuVernay is very much staging an ambitious world visually, and while it's interesting to view, it doesn't allow enough on the surface or even depth to understand how the "wrinkles" operate. While I'm okay with the idea of the children going into a world unlike their own, I found myself asking "what is anything and why doesn't it click like it should?" We are told many times on screen that Meg and her brother have great minds, but we never really get to see what makes them so brilliant like the film says they are. There's points when Meg's brother becomes the central focus and he goes from over his years to unexplainably odd and it becomes hard to digest on screen. And as for Oprah playing the witch, it just sounds like Oprah talking like Oprah. Take what you can from that.
It's not all bad within the world though. There's enough colorful elements that I could see young children finding enjoyment in the fantasy world. The set pieces have some interesting ideas and surreal moments in visual repetition and ever changing geography.
A Wrinkle in Time sadly has too many wrinkles to give it a recommendation, but I wouldn't tell people run away either. It has interesting ideas, but trouble connecting it altogether. Colorful, but maybe too intense to the eye. The heart and soul is very much seen in Ava's work, but I feel the heart wasn't in the right direction.
Rating: 5.1 / 10
The film follows Meg (Storm Reid) who is at a lost after dealing with the disappearance of her father (Chris Pine). Suddenly Meg's little brother discovers three witches who help Meg, her brother and a close friend try to discover why their father hasn't come home.
Ava DuVernay is very much staging an ambitious world visually, and while it's interesting to view, it doesn't allow enough on the surface or even depth to understand how the "wrinkles" operate. While I'm okay with the idea of the children going into a world unlike their own, I found myself asking "what is anything and why doesn't it click like it should?" We are told many times on screen that Meg and her brother have great minds, but we never really get to see what makes them so brilliant like the film says they are. There's points when Meg's brother becomes the central focus and he goes from over his years to unexplainably odd and it becomes hard to digest on screen. And as for Oprah playing the witch, it just sounds like Oprah talking like Oprah. Take what you can from that.
It's not all bad within the world though. There's enough colorful elements that I could see young children finding enjoyment in the fantasy world. The set pieces have some interesting ideas and surreal moments in visual repetition and ever changing geography.
A Wrinkle in Time sadly has too many wrinkles to give it a recommendation, but I wouldn't tell people run away either. It has interesting ideas, but trouble connecting it altogether. Colorful, but maybe too intense to the eye. The heart and soul is very much seen in Ava's work, but I feel the heart wasn't in the right direction.
Rating: 5.1 / 10