Disney has transformed Madeleine L’Engle’s story for the big screen – here Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews…
Den of Geek: *** “Though flawed, A Wrinkle In Time is a winsome spectacle that feels emotionally grounded even when there’s a significant lack of dramatic heft.”
The Guardian: ** “Unfortunately, well-intentioned as it is, it’s hard to imagine that this sparkly mess of a movie will connect with cinema-goers far beyond its core audience of 10-to-14-year-old girls.”
Empire: *** “. For all the stumbles along the way, the message that the film eventually delivers is an important one about embracing your faults and believing yourself worthy, and that makes up for a lot of overly baroque flourishes.”
The Telegraph: *** “DuVernay’s genuine triumph is making Meg relatable, rootable-for, and worth following through every zig-zagging rabbit hole of Jennifer Lee’s script. The choices leading up to it are sometimes cheats, but the film’s moving finale owes a huge amount to Reid. If there’s one thing the CGI-as-magic-carpet era can’t yet succeed in falsifying, it’s this young actress’s intuitions for coming back to earth.”
The Independent: *** “While L’Engle’s book is full of complex themes, it seems as if two hours wasn’t enough time to explore all of them and to allow Reid’s character to fully develop. For children, the movie adaptation will likely be a fast-favourite because of its cinematic elements, but adults who have held onto A Wrinkle In Time as a staple of their childhood, they will likely find some magic missing in the movie.”
Rolling Stone: *** “It’s worth seeing just to bask in a film that does ask for inclusion on such a grand scale, that does score points both subtle and not-so-subtle (“I’ve never seen the point of fences,” notes Whatsit, and the subtext is understood), that does question why the province of tentpoles belongs to one group and not every group.”
Time Out: *** “No Hollywood film can ever solve the central problem of adapting this book, in that it inevitably does too much of the imagining for you. DuVernay makes a big-hearted go of it, even if she seems sometimes slightly dazzled by her own magical mystery tour.”
BFI.org: “DuVernay seems more savvy in the use of her own visage: she prefaces every screening with a direct-to-camera message to audiences, thanking them for making the film happen. Although this gestures at the heartfelt, it’s ultimately pretty empty – but no doubt great for her brand.”
The Times: **** “Child actress Storm Reid carries this powerful and occasionally nutty sci-fi tearjerker”
BBC.com: *** “There’s no doubt, as Selma and her earlier films show, that DuVernay is a great director of drama. Reid and Pine bring genuine emotion to the father-daughter reunion, and to their struggle to save each other. The film’s themes of love, family and self-acceptance are powerful enough to resonate with audiences. But the concept and casting shouldn’t be the most magical parts of a fantasy film, no matter how enchanting its message is.”
The Metro: *** “what is most frustrating is that DuVernay is one of the most exciting directors working right now, and yet even she was unable to get this story to flow in a way that made it fun to watch.”
A Wrinkle in Time is in cinemas now.