A Wrinkle in Time

A movie I love and hate because it reminds me of what it meant to grow up, including its painstakingly accurate depictions of the tribulations of adolescence. I review what’s up on screen, not the book the movie is based on (though it is beneficial to familiarize oneself with source material), but there are two glaring omissions from Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 novel that should be pointed out: the movie should’ve been more mathematically inclined in ways that a child could understand, and second, the film hinges around the girl, Meg (Storm Reid), manipulating a tesseract which is developed on a Möbius strip, something that a simple visual would’ve gone a long way to explain. Initially, from the trailer, I feared that Oprah Winfrey would dominate the film but her character is used in proper perspective with the movie focusing on a young girl’s quest. When her scientist father, Dr. Alex Murray (Chris Pine) disappeared four years ago while trying to prove a theory to unlock the universe, three “Mrs.” (Oprah, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling) appear to lead Meg, her adopted kid brother and a neighborhood friend, Calvin, across the vastness of space in search for her dad. Along the way, they encounter a sinister shadow creature (straight out of Babylon 5) representing all that is negative amongst us, and the exact cul-de-sac from SyFy’s No End House, signifying the lure of complacency.

[PG]