Directed by: Ava DuVernay
Starring: Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Mindy Kaling, Deric McCabe, Zach Galifianakis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Levi Miller, Michael Pena
Maybe I should have read the book. Maybe I should've known there was a book, or a series of books, in the first place. People tell me they read the book in grade school. Funny, I went to the same grade schools and don't recall a wrinkle in anything. Maybe the book should've been adapted to the big screen sooner than fifty-plus years after its initial publication. Because the supposedly wondrous things we see in A Wrinkle of Time have already been done in countless other science fiction films. It feels curiously outdated, even on the visual front, and we are left with not a lot to care about.
I'd be heavily disappointed to say the least if I were transported ninety billion light years away in a flash and I stumble upon yet another gorgeous planet of green grass, mountains, water, and fields as far as the eye can see. Heck, there is all of that in Kentucky. Once I gaze at the untouched, unmolested beauty, then what? What do I do for the remaining 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 10 seconds of my day? And the ones to follow? I'd be bored out of my skull. A Wrinkle in Time is not the first movie to suggest that somehow this is heaven. That, or the endless cloud place. If heaven is a place, I'd better not see a tree or I will complain to the management.
That's what we have with A Wrinkle in Time, which presents us with lush scenery, acres of greenery, and way too emotional music to remind us that something wonderful is happening, lest we forget something is. I will tread lightly on the plot, which involves NASA scientist Alex Murry (Pine), who along with his wife (Mbatha-Raw) discover tesseracts, or ways to fold time and space so you can travel to other galaxies in a snap. Alex soon disappears one day and is gone for four years, while his adopted daughter Meg (Reid), adopted son Charles Wallace (McCabe), and wife Katherine struggle to make sense of his vanishing. A magical being in the form of Mrs. Whatsit (Witherspoon) soon arrives in the family living room to spread the good news: Alex may be alive. There is also a Mrs. Which (Winfrey) and a Mrs. Who (Kaling), who help Meg and Charles Wallace start the journey to find their father. Funny, we don't see Mr. Whatsit, Mr. Which, and Mr. Who anywhere. I'm sure they would be mildly upset that their wives are never around.
Besides the world of endless grass and mountains, we visit other worlds which look like the sets we saw in 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and heck even the suburban cookie cutter homes of Edward Scissorhands. When a movie makes me think of the latter two films, you know the movie is in trouble. The beings, or guides, or whatever they are can use their powers to help move the kids, who go on the journey along with a school friend named Calvin (Miller), who has a crush on the distrustful, withdrawn Meg. One turns into a flying piece of lettuce, while others use other magical tricks which rob them of their energy to the point that Meg and the group have to go it alone. Will Meg find the confidence to trust herself and others? What do you think?
There maybe was a time in which the material of A Wrinkle in Time might have seemed revolutionary or imaginative, but now it seems like old hat. We've been from one end of the universe to the other and back so often we should be awarded frequent flyer miles. The only villain in the film is a large tree-limb thingy called It, and guess what? There was also a movie called that as well last fall. I think I saw this creature in the Tom Cruise flop Legend (1985), which was played by Tim Curry. The names of It, Mrs. Whatsit, etc. sound like lifts from Dr. Seuss books. The film's events are moved to the present day, but the ideas are stuck in the early 1960's when the idea of things which are trite today seemed glorious and cutting edge.
Our imaginations were stretched and challenged by 2001, Star Wars, Star Trek, and even the Marvel universe as to what powers the universe possesses. A Wrinkle in Time is too little, too late. We've been there and done that.
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