A WRINKLE IN TIME
Director: Ava DuVernay
Cast: Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Storm Reid, Zach Galifianakis, Chris Pine
Rating: (PG)
★★★ (out of five)
A Wrinkle in Time reminded me most of another film from my own childhood, The NeverEnding Story, which I endured while wishing I was in the theatre down the street showing Conan the Destroyer, so while I guess I’m not the intended audience, I decided to channel my inner 8-year-old for its duration, and though I still would’ve rather been aping the giant monkey flick next door, I more or less liked it.
Based on Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 novel, it’s a kind of semi-psychedelic sci-fi fantasy adventure in which 13-year-old Meg Murry (the excellent Storm Reid), who with the help of three mysterious astral travellers named Mrs Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), Mrs Who (Mindy Kaling) and Mrs Which (Oprah Winfrey), journeys through space, time and other dimensions to find her father (Chris Pine), an astrophysicist who disappeared after discovering the secrets of the universe, or something.
It’s deeply silly in parts, veers between charming and ridiculous, often within the space of a single scene, and many of the effects are subpar, but it does what it says on the can, and besides, why shouldn’t the young ones get to have their own big budget, FX-driven piece of nonsense if the adults are allowed?
- Jeremy Quinn
