“A Wrinkle In Time”– Movie Review

This week at The Film Society Of Lincoln Center, I attended a screening of the new fantasy by Ava DuVernay, “A Wrinkle In Time”, with Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling. 

Synopsis

When a girl sets out on a journey to find her missing father, will she be able to survive the opposing forces of the universe to reunite her family?

Story

In the four years since scientist Alex Murry (Chris Pine) has been missing, his daughter Meg (Storm Reid) has grown increasingly morose.  Nevertheless, she keeps the faith that he will someday return to her, her prodigy younger brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) and their mother, Kate (Gugu Mbatha-Raw).  One day, Charles Wallace introduces Meg to three magical women:  Mrs. Which (Winfrey), Mrs. Whatsit (Witherspoon) and Mrs. Who (Kaling).  Together, this mystical trio promise Meg that they will help find her father.

Meg, Charles Wallace and Meg’s classmate Calvin (Levi Miller) join these women in tessering – a type of multi-dimensional travel that transcends time and space in the traditional sense.  In search of Alex, they wind up in a dangerous land that is inhabited by a dark, evil force known simply as The It.  In this environment, the women start losing their special powers; as a result, they are forced to abandon Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin to resume the quest on their own.  As it turns out, the evil forces in this strange land draw in Charles Wallace, who now tries to use these dark forces to destroy both Meg and Calvin.

With Charles Wallace now in charge, he brings Meg to Alex, who it turns out has been trapped in this other-worldly dimension.  Alex confesses to Meg that it was his own selfish ambition that caused him to desert his family.  Now that Meg has finally located her father, neither of them are able to leave.  Charles Wallace, being controlled by the dark forces, brings Meg to meet The It.  With The It taking over, Charles Wallace gleefully watches as The It begins to overwhelm Meg.  But can Meg figure out how to overcome The It and return home with her brother, Calvin and her father? 

Review

Perhaps the greatest challenge when it comes to reviewing “A Wrinkle In Time” is trying to talk about it without sounding cruel.  Ava DuVernay, who introduced the film and participated in a question and answer session with the audience afterward, is a great big bundle of positive energy and comes across as one of the most likeable people you’ve ever met.  Suffice it to say that she’s an incredibly gifted filmmaker who has turned out something that’s a bit of a disappointment.  We know just how good she really is (she opened the 54th New York Film Festival with her documentary 13th), so a movie like this is a genuine letdown.

“A Wrinkle In Time” could easily be renamed “President Oprah Saves The World” because she’s such a large presence in this movie.  By “large”, this doesn’t merely refer to her time spent on-screen – it’s also referring to the physical size of her character.  If regular Oprah isn’t scary enough, King Size Oprah is arguably the most frightening thing in the film (not to mention her aluminum foil eyebrows).  Between the get-ups and the make-up, all three of these mystical women look like transvestite hookers you’d be afraid to run into at The Holland Tunnel entrance after midnight. 

The screenplay doesn’t prove particularly helpful, either.  It seems lazily written, both in terms of the hackneyed dialog and dependence on the visual effects to evoke awe in the mind of the viewer.  A usually funny Zach Galifianakis is totally wasted in his small role as a medium who tries to come to the aid of Meg.  Apparently, the message of the story is to not put yourself before your family and to embrace your flaws.  “A Wrinkle In Time” has plenty of flaws, and embracing them should be discouraged at all costs.  Maybe very small children or fans of the book will enjoy this cinematic version, but most adults will be left unimpressed and bewildered.

As mentioned above, DuVernay took questions from the audience following the screening.  She said that she wanted to make the movie because the last adaptation of the book had been about 25 to 30 years ago and she felt the story could be updated for a 21st century audience.  DuVernay mentioned that her next project would be shot here in New York City during the summer; it’s called, “The Central Park Five” and is about the five young Black men who were wrongly accused of raping a white woman in Central Park and wound up spending years in prison before being proved innocent of the crime.