The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
2018
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Mar 9, 2018 · A mixed bag of a fantasy film that follows three children and three magical beings on a quest to find a missing scientist. The review praises the cast, the tone, and the themes, but criticizes the CGI and the pacing.
43% Tomatometer 344 Reviews. 26% Audience Score 5,000+ Ratings. Meg Murry and her little brother, Charles Wallace, have been without their scientist father, Mr. Murry, for five years, ever since...
- (344)
- Ava Duvernay
- PG
- Storm Reid
Mar 7, 2018 · It is the first $100 million movie directed by an African-American woman, and the diversity of its cast is both a welcome innovation and the declaration of a new norm. This is how movies should ...
- Ava Duvernay
- A.O. Scott
- 109 min
Mar 7, 2018 · Rated PG, 110 minutes. 'A Wrinkle in Time,' Ava DuVernay's adaptation of the classic children's novel, boasts a starry cast including Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling and...
- This flawed adaptation shines brightest when it reaches for the stars.
- A Wrinkle in Time: 9 Things We Learned on Set
- A Wrinkle in Time Photos
- Verdict
By Laura Prudom
Updated: Mar 8, 2018 1:26 pm
Posted: Mar 7, 2018 5:00 pm
A Wrinkle in Time is ambitious, hopeful, and brimming with imagination -- a timely rallying cry for everyone who (to paraphrase T’Challa) believes in building bridges, not barriers.
But it’s also messy, overwrought, and oddly paced, veering wildly from place to place -- much like its protagonists -- with no real sense of momentum. These are all shortcomings of Madeleine L’Engle’s book, which screenwriter Jennifer Lee (writer and co-director of Frozen) relies upon too heavily in some moments, even while making savvy deviations elsewhere.
Your tolerance for said shortcomings probably depends on your age bracket. There are moments in A Wrinkle in Time so full of whimsy and wonder that you’ll be instantly transported back to your childhood, the first time you realized that movies have the ability to send you flying through time and space, offering you an adventure beyond your wildest dreams. But then there are patches of dialogue so clunky, and plot developments so whiplash-inducing, your goodwill might evaporate as quickly as it appeared.
This is especially evident in the breathless third act, which seems to be in a rush to button things up without actually resolving much, ending with an abruptness that feels antithetical to modern (franchise) moviemaking -- posing vital questions but seeming unconcerned with answering them. It’s a page right out of L’Engle’s playbook, but that doesn’t make it any more satisfying to watch.
What’s most frustrating about the whole endeavor is that when it works, A Wrinkle in Time soars -- between its vibrant alien vistas, eye-popping costumes, and sweeping soundtrack, it’s an unabashed sensory overload, illustrating DuVernay’s eye for details.
While the director is only the third woman in movie history to helm a film with a budget in excess of $100 million (following Kathryn Bigelow and Patty Jenkins), DuVernay handles the aesthetics of her blockbuster debut with confidence and flair, making the heavy-lifting of worldbuilding seem effortless, even if the same can’t be said for the uneven pacing.
It also features a biracial female protagonist whose skin color doesn’t have to be the defining characteristic of her story; she gets to be insecure and awkward and angry the way all teenagers are, while also learning to love herself and embrace her so-called “weaknesses” in order to save the day. Here, A Wrinkle in Time emphasizes the universality of L’Engle’s story while grounding Meg’s journey in the specificity of her own personal experiences, offering the kind of depth that has too often been limited to white characters in big budget kids movies. (You have to go as far back as Spy Kids in the early aughts to find another high concept adventure film starring young people of color, which reportedly had a budget of only $50 million.)
In some ways, A Wrinkle in Time is a direct response to the cynicism that’s overtaken our culture, despite the fact that L’Engle was exploring these themes more than fifty years ago. It warns against giving in to conformity, even when individuality can be dangerous, and calls on us to be a light in times of overwhelming darkness, with a sincerity that can sometimes feel saccharine (when it’s not making you cry).
Sentimentality certainly isn’t in short supply in Disney movies, but it feels particularly heavy-handed here, and while the messaging is perfectly calibrated for kids under 13, anyone who doesn’t need parental supervision may find themselves wishing the script gave them a little more credit. Despite the auspices of everyone involved, this doesn’t feel like a franchise-starter the way Disney might hope for, but that doesn’t make it a wasted journey -- just one that takes a few too many detours to get where it needs to go.
While its narrative shortcomings often bring it crashing back down to earth, A Wrinkle in Time shines brightest when it reaches for the stars.
Read critics' and audience's opinions on the 2018 sci-fi adventure film based on Madeleine L'Engle's novel. See the ratings, scores, and comments for A Wrinkle in Time on Rotten Tomatoes.
Mar 7, 2018 · Ava DuVernay's adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's novel is uneven, weirdly suspenseless and tonally all over the place, relying on wall-to-wall music and visual effects to compensate for plot holes and character inconsistencies. The film makes strides for representation, but fails to capture the mind-expanding invitation of the source material.
