A Wrinkle in Time (2018) Review
4:14 PM
Be a warrior.
This review contains spoilers.
Ava DuVernay (Selma) directs A Wrinkle in Time, an adaptation of the classic book by Madeleine L'Engle; it has been adapted to screen by Jennifer Lee (Frozen) and Jeff Stockwell (Bridge to Terabithia). The film stars Oprah Winfrey (The Butler), Reese Witherspoon (Big Little Lies), Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project), Levi Miller (Pan), Chris Pine (Wonder Woman) and introduces Storm Reid in her first leading role. "After the disappearance of her scientist father, three peculiar beings send Meg, her brother, and her friend to space in order to find him". Lots of cultural significance has been placed upon A Wrinkle in Time; is there more to this film than just its industrial and social importance?
I tried my best to like A Wrinkle in Time but
little could save this film from being a catastrophic mess. There were
brief moments that I found enjoyable, but the majority of this film is
confusing, incoherent and lacks depth. A Wrinkle in Time is
Disney's weakest release since 2016's Alice Through the Looking Glass; while
I disliked Alice 2 more, at least that film had a plot that
was easy to follow. Who is to blame? Ava DuVernay? Jennifer Lee and Jeff
Stockwell? Madeleine L'Engle? The cast? I think the blame lies with everyone.
Reese Witherspoon's character Mrs Whatsit gifts Meg (Reid) with her faults. It
looks like Mrs Whatsit brought out the faults of everyone involved in this film
and unlike Meg, they were unable to use them to their advantage.
Jennifer Lee and Jeff Stockwell should not write or adapt a
screenplay together again. They clearly have contrasting visions and styles,
that have resulted in a muddled and over-complicated final product. Some
critics have applauded Lee and Stockwell for at least attempting to adapt a
book that is essentially unadaptable. I have not read L'Engle's book, but maybe
it would have been a smarter idea for Disney to create an original film with a
similarly important message that had a story that was not too complex for the
big screen. That being said, Lee and Stockwell completely fail to create a
clear and coherent story. There is no explanation as to why Charles Wallace
(Deric McCabe) is already familiar with each of the Mrs'; this could have
easily been solved with a small scene of Charles Wallace interacting with a
mysterious female figure prior to Meg's first encounter with Mrs Whatsit.
Charles Wallace also seems to know exactly what is going on at every moment;
the character could have done with some extra development to give the audience
a better understanding of why he is unsurprised and familiar with everything
that is occurring. This made the character very annoying (more on him later).
For a family movie, I expected everything to be more clear-cut. Instead,
the plot details are vague and even after watching, I am still struggling to
describe what it was exactly about.
Chunks of the film felt like they were missing;
I'm unsure if there are scenes left on the floor of the editing room or if this
was how the script was written. For example, a big deal is made about Meg,
Charles Wallace and Calvin (Levi Miller) being sent back to Earth to plan how
they will rescue their father. Suddenly, as they are being transported back
home, Meg wakes up and they have actually been relocated to Camazotz, the dark planet
home to IT (no, not Pennywise). This was a somewhat random sharp turn that took
the narrative in whole new direction than what was just set up. This was
terribly explained; apparently, Meg's cry was strong enough, it overrode the
powers of the Mrs' and took her to where she wanted to go. To me, it felt like
the film did not have enough time for a pit stop on earth so skipped the
'planning' segment and carried on with the story. This is not the only time
that the narrative erratically changes direction; throughout the film, the
characters hop from planet to planet and the Mrs' powers abruptly start to
weaken (even though there was no prior mention to this) so they have to exit
the story. My favourite random moment (it possibly reaches so-bad-it-was-good status)
was when Mrs Whatsit transforms into a giant leaf creature. Everything
narrative device felt like it was conveniently placed to take the characters
wherever the writers wanted to take them; a film based on a renowned book
should not feel so loose and well, random.
The plot did have a few moments that were
heartfelt and had me thinking, for a brief moment, that things were about to
turn around. The bullying that Meg goes through at the start of the film was
tough to watch, the nasty group of girls who posted a 'Happy Anniversary'
sticky note on her locker on the day of her father's anniversary definitely
helped the audience to sympathise and connect with Meg. This emotionally brutal
act was quite heart-breaking to see. To the credit of Lee and Stockwell, they
have put an inspirational, powerful and important message at the heart of their
story; to believe in yourself and to love yourself. Meg's character arc is
possibly the only thing about the narrative that is executed somewhat clearly
(even though I would have liked some more likes about accepting her flaws and
embracing them). There are a few interactions between Meg and Mrs Which (Oprah
Winfrey) which were empowering, but I wanted more of them! I also liked when
Mrs Which shows Meg that everyone is fighting their own battles, from her head
teacher to her bully. It is just annoying that Ava DuVernay, Jennifer Lee and
Jeff Stockwell could have easily told this powerful message without all of the
complexities and jerky plot changes that the large-scale narrative of A
Wrinkle of Time has led to. The message is clearly what is most
important to Ava DuVernay about this film, I just wish she focused equally on
fitting it into an engaging and comprehensible movie.
At least A Wrinkle in Time can
rely on being visually pleasing...right? To some extent. At the start, the
visuals were not as strong as I was expecting. Mrs Whatsit is the first of the
Mrs' to appear on-screen and on Earth, her costume design was hideous; I was
extremely worried at this point that the film could not even be saved by strong
CGI, production and costume design. Thankfully, as soon as the characters
transported to a new world, Mrs Whatsit's costume was nicer, and her hair was
more vibrant. The powers of each of the Mrs' were not established too clearly;
Mrs Whatsit can turn into a leaf-creature, Mrs Who (Mindy Kaling) speaks in
quotes and Mrs Which comes in many different sizes. These unusual characters
had potential to be so much more. The cinematography was aesthetically pleasing
in all of the worlds, with a specific colour palette for each one that
corresponded well with the tone of each particular scene. I was disappointed by
the visuals in the third act, which takes place mostly in white, pink and
orange rooms. Maybe the budget was blown by the CGI heavy storm that Meg and
Calvin had to battle through? It was an interesting choice for DuVernay to use
the close-up for the majority of her shots of characters. Finally, you would
expect world-building to be strong in a film that travels to many different
planets and dimensions. Wrong. Mrs Whatsit instructs the characters to go and
explore the first planet they visit...but they never really do much exploring.
The planets constructed in A Wrinkle in Time are very
one-dimensional.
Storm Reid and Chris Pine were my favourites out
of the entire cast. Reid holds this big mess of a film on her shoulders and
somehow manages to keep the audience interested because her performance allows
them to connect to her character very easily. Reid's Meg is a warrior that is a
great role model to any young viewers who see this film; she goes from
disliking herself and constantly putting herself down to becoming a courageous
and confident person. The scene where Meg is presented with an 'ideal' version
of herself was one of my favourites, it was great seeing her accept herself for
who she is. Chris Pine's role is much smaller, but he makes a great impression
whenever he is on screen. It is both the strong performances of Pine and Reid
that make their reunion all-the-more touching. Oprah Winfrey does not need to
play Mrs Who because she is already that character; whenever she was on screen,
I felt like it was Oprah in a fancy costume just being Oprah...and there's
nothing wrong with that because she knows exactly how to deliver powerful
lines.
As for the rest of the cast, my feelings towards
their performances range from disappointed to near-hatred. I like Reese
Witherspoon and always enjoy her. However, for the first half of this film, I
could not get on board with her performance. She does have some better moments
in the second half, but I think she constrained her eccentricity a little too
much. Like Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling also was not bad. However, out of the
three Mrs', she was the one who made the least impression on me. Levi Miller
plays Calvin, a poorly written character who is not essential to the plot but
comes along for the adventure anyway. Miller previously failed to impress in Pan and
unfortunately, his performance in this film is not much better. Miller seemed
to only express one facial expression and does a lot of staring and
posing.
Finally, we come to Deric McCabe. I'm going to
try to stop myself from being too harsh because he is only a child actor and I
do not think he is all to blame for his unwatchable performance; it was during
most of his scenes that I considered walking out of this film. Disney clearly
did not learn from Tomorrowland; making a film where a child-actor
is in such a complex and pivotal role is never a good idea. By this, I do not
mean that Disney should stop making films with child protagonists, I mean they
should stop making films with characters that are so complex that it is almost
impossible for a child to deliver a satisfying performance. When he is both
good and evil, McCabe uses the same tone, the same forced and over-the-top
tone. McCabe embodies everything bad about child-actors. Not only is Charles
Wallace (why can't he just be called Charles??) an annoying character who is a
know-it-all, but he also turns into the film's villain...I cannot understand
why a 9-year-old was cast in such an elaborate role. Maybe because that is the
age of the character I hear you ask? Well, that is another reason why Disney
should not have agreed to make this movie.
My favourite things about A Wrinkle in Time were
Storm Reid, Chris Pine, Oprah's (expectedly) empowering lines and the message. Luckily these redeeming qualities were on hand to stop this film from being a complete disaster. Everything else ranges from disappointing to pretty awful. A Wrinkle in Time's
narrative has no direction; the writers take the story wherever they feel like.
Disney has mistakenly agreed to make a film that overly relies on a child
actor, in this case, Deric McCabe; they ask way too much of him, he would have
been tolerable in smaller doses! The visual effects are pretty and rich in
colour. If I could travel back in time, I travel to the first meeting everyone
involved in this film had and warn them of all the errors they were about to
make. Maybe then they would have realised that some books just cannot be adapted,
and Ava DuVernay could have embodied the same message into a much stronger
story. Somebody should have stopped this chaos.
42
/100
What did you think of A WRINKLE IN TIME? What film should Ava DuVernay make next? - COMMENT BELOW
0 comments