Not even Oprah can save this one. A Wrinkle in Time is an incoherent, sloppy mess that takes too much time trying to dazzle in spectacle and style, rather than focusing on the subject of its characters or stories. The story follows 13 year old Meg Murry who is struggling in school and life in general after her father has gone missing for some time while studying humanity’s existence and theories delving into the astrophysical world. What follows is an adventure that takes Meg, her brother Charles Wallace(annoyingly referred to as just that every single time in the movie) and her friend Calvin as they travel through different universes and time zones.
A Wrinkle in Time is simply a mess. It tries too hard to be ambitious as it doesn’t allow the audience to ever feel truly comfortable or truly in the zone of the worlds we see. The actors don’t help much as the performances from the young actors are mediocre at best. Given the bevy of young talent that is in Hollywood more and more these days, it’s frustrating as it is disappointing that Disney of all studios couldn’t find better actors to pull off better performances than the ones we are given.
Perhaps what’s the worst thing about the film is that it never allows the audience to truly get to know the worlds we are seeing and experiencing. It is often too invested in being different and indulgent in its style of seemingly making up rules and plot elements as the film sloppily drags along, it’s almost hard to watch without tedious and consistent eye rolling. From the dialogue to the visuals that hold no awe or substance, it’s best to skip this one entirely and just watch Coco for the 10th time than this clunk of junk from Disney.