A Wrinkle in Time

A teen with an absentee parent is struggling with the everyday life. One day, they meet a mysterious stranger who sparks a wonderful adventure, leading to the character overcoming personal and literal demons. Why is the premise familiar? Because it’s the same recycled set-up from Alice in Wonderland, The BFG, The Dark Tower, Tomorrowland, and Treasure Planet, as well as many other kids films released over the years. So what is different about Disney’s newest film A Wrinkle in Time?

The start of the movie sees young protagonist Meg (Storm Reid) struggling with school life, and the fact that her scientist father (Chris Pine) has been missing for four years. She doesn’t fit in, she can’t sleep, and she is bullied. Cue the appearance of mystical being Mrs Whatsit (her actual name – I haven’t just forgotten it), played by Reese Witherspoon. Whatsit, along with her cohorts Mrs Who and Mrs Which (Mindy Kaling and Oprah Winfrey respectively), convince Meg that she must begin her journey to find her father, and save the earth from evil.

If this sounds ambiguous, it’s because it is. Jennifer Lee’s screenplay is laughably vague when it comes to defining the antagonising force, described as “an evil” by Mrs Exposition, sorry, Mrs Which. What is clear is that Meg must overcome her personal issues and “become one with the universe”, otherwise the Earth is in danger of becoming… More evil.

Shaking off Lee’s barely concealed metaphors, Meg takes a step into adventure, using flu powder to travel from her fireplace… Wait, no that isn’t right. The Mrs ‘tesser’ Meg – wrinkling space (not time) to send her to another dimension. Along for the ride are Meg’s genius brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe), and bland school mate Calvin (Levi Miller). In a segment that might as well be titled: ‘Look at our visual effects budget’, Meg and co. admire just how far they have come from home. Letting cynicism take a backseat for a moment, the visuals encountered are stunning: humanistic flowers and giant flying leaf creatures soaring through a vivid and wondrous atmosphere.

As anyone might when adventuring, Meg and her friends run into a host of colourful characters on their journey. Winfrey is wise and benevolent, strangely reminiscent in image of Ursula from The Little Mermaid, and Kaling lights up most scenes. Witherspoon brings the same peppy energy she brought to Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, and the gentle comedy the will tickle. Elsewhere, Zach Galifianakis and Michael Pena are hardly more than cameos, lingering in the mind if only because of Paco Delgado’s playfully exquisite costume design.

“This is no longer a search, it’s a rescue,” Winfrey announces, signalling the beginning of the third act. The Mrs leave Meg and her companions on the planet Camazotz, after bestowing gifts that will help them find Meg’s father (think Father Christmas in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; or Galadriel in Fellowship of the Ring). And as Meg finally faces evil incarnate, The It (honestly, that’s what it’s called), it becomes glaringly obvious how little she has had to do to get this far. Complicated science is mentioned every now and then but immediately shied away from, as if director Ava DuVernay is so scared of alienating the audience that character development is sacrificed. “Just a physics thing,” Meg explains after she and Calvin are hurled through the air inside a tree stump, one of the film’s few interesting set pieces. If DuVernay is trying to downplay Meg’s intelligence, she succeeds, letting the film run away instead with the theme of internal battle against self doubt.

“I like your hair,” Samwise Calvin blurts, validating Meg because she can’t do it herself. Lee’s dialogue peppers the film with clichés, so obviously showcasing the film’s message that it’s almost patronising. DuVernay is the real disappointment, however. What could have been an important film to remember in our current climate is made with no originality. A Wrinkle in Time is merely an amalgamation of every teen fantasy film that has come before it, albeit with updated visual splendour. With a writer desperately trying to recreate the magic of the film’s ultimate template, The Wizard of Oz, and a director seemingly unfocused on quality or originality, this Disney entry soars high above 2015’s Tomorrowland, but settles somewhere just below Spielberg’s The BFG.