A Wrinkle in Time (2018) review

In 1962, author Madeleine L’Engle published a novel that would end up becoming her most famous piece of work, A Wrinkle in Time. Despite being initially turned down by at least 26 different publishers, the novel went on to become a watershed entry in the science-fiction fantasy genre and a staple of classrooms across the country. And now, more than five and a half decades after its release, it graces the big-screen for the first time ever in Disney’s new adaptation of this timeless story. However, this is not the first time that A Wrinkle in Time has been adapted to film; in fact, this isn’t even Disney’s first adaptation of it. Back in 2003, Disney produced a made-for-TV film adaptation that aired on ABC in May 2004. However, the film ended up receiving negative reviews from both critics and fans of the book; even L’Engle herself was highly critical of it. And yet, despite her passing in 2007, I bet that she might have been a little more positive towards this new adaptation of her book if she had seen it. This new version is brought to us by Ava DuVernay, who’s become a major critical darling these past few years thanks to her work on films like the 2014 Martin Luther King Jr. drama Selma and the 2016 Netflix documentary 13^th. Along with being the first $100 million+ film directed by a female director of color, it also boasts a screenplay written by Jennifer Lee, writer/co-director of Disney’s 2013 smash hit Frozen, and features an all-star cast highlighted by the trio of Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, and the one and only Oprah Winfrey. And while it ultimately may not be a completely successful adaptation of its source material, DuVernay does manage to deliver a visually spectacular sci-fi fantasy adventure capable of delighting both young and old.

In an average American suburb, teenager Meg Murry (Storm Reid) struggles to fit in at school due to her abrasive personality. However, this recent behavior was mainly brought upon by the disappearance of her father, noted astrophysicist Dr. Alex Murry (Chris Pine), who sought to uncover a way to travel across dimensions with ease. Now that it’s been at least four years since his disappearance, Meg begins to lose hope that her father is still alive; that is until she is visited by three omnipotent beings capable of traveling to the places that her father had always dreamed of reaching. This trio of women consists of the wise and all-powerful Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey), Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling), who often quotes several historical figures, and the cheerfully eccentric Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon). Meg learns from the three Mrs. W’s that her father is, in fact, still alive, having successfully managed to transport himself to another dimension through the process known as ‘tessering’. However, in doing so, he’s also become trapped by a dark force known as ‘the It’, which is the cause of all negativity across the universe. Thus, Meg must embark on an adventure with her precocious little brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) and her classmate Calvin O’Keefe (Levi Miller) across dimensions with the help of the three Mrs. W’s to find her father and rescue him from ‘the It’, an adventure that, per Mrs. Which, will test them ‘every step of the way’.

A common criticism of this film has been towards its plot, with some calling it ‘convoluted’. Personally, though, I didn’t find the plot to be that convoluted. Granted, there are times where the film throws a lot of important story beats at you, but never enough to the point where it’d leave audiences totally confused as to what’s going on. However, in terms of the narrative, there is one thing that hurts the film from time to time, and that is its surprisingly brisk pacing. Simply put, this film attempts to get a lot done in the span of its 109-minute runtime, and because of this, not everything in the story gets as much attention as it should. This includes everything from a lack of development for the main threat that is ‘the It’ to even glossing over some story beats in the first half hour or so that are meant to set up this universe and its characters. Still, DuVernay and Lee do manage to convey the emotional poignancy of this story of a young girl trying to find her father (along with showcasing the strength of family) quite well; maybe not to its fullest potential but still just enough to register the right sense of emotional catharsis. And as far as the film’s visuals are concerned, this is one of the best-looking films to come out in recent memory. Once Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace begin traveling across dimensions, the CGI work that is on display here is second to none, syncing up perfectly with the film’s vibrant cinematography. And just like how Peter Jackson used the beautiful landscapes of his home country of New Zealand to their fullest effect in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies, DuVernay does the same for this film, which was partially shot there as well.

Ultimately, though, arguably the best aspect of this film is the stellar ensemble cast that DuVernay has assembled to play these iconic roles. It’s all headlined by the phenomenal lead trio of Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling as the three Mrs. W’s. Oprah, as always, dignifiedly graces the role of Mrs. Which with the same kind of class that has helped to make her the icon that she is today, Reese Witherspoon gets a lot of the best lines due to Mrs. Whatsit’s dry wit, and Mindy Kaling is an equally delightful combination of the two. The interesting thing to note, though, is that while the three of them do receive top billing, they’re only in about a third of the film. As such, it relies more on its young leads, who are all quite excellent. Newcomer Storm Reid very much shines in the role of Meg, even managing to hold her own against the likes of Oprah and Reese Witherspoon, as does Deric McCabe as her gifted brother Charles Wallace. And while Calvin doesn’t get as much to work with material-wise compared to Meg, Levi Miller does work well off both Reid and McCabe. There are also plenty of great supporting roles in this film as well. Chris Pine and Gugu Mbatha-Raw bring much warmth to the film as Meg and Charles Wallace’s parents, especially in terms of the strong ‘parent-child’ bond that Reid shares with them both. Zach Galifianakis gets some great humorous scenes as the eccentric Happy Medium, who aids Meg and co. in their adventure, while Michael Pena is also a major highlight as Red, a sinister agent of ‘the It’ who seduces Charles Wallace to their side.

A Wrinkle in Time has long been referred to by many as one of the prime examples of an ‘unfilmable’ novel, with some feeling that it’d be impossible to fully bring Madeline L’Engle’s fantastical narrative to life on the big screen. But while it may not fully succeed at doing so, Ava DuVernay’s take on this timeless tale is quite the admirable attempt at it. Sure, it suffers quite a bit in terms of pacing, namely through its attempts to try and cram so much of the story into a rather light under two-hour runtime. But when it comes to its visual department, that is where this film truly shines. This is very much one of those films that’s worth checking out on the big-screen, where one can experience the true scale of its vivid imagery. And despite a few instances where the film somewhat glosses over important parts of the plot, it does manage to be an effectively emotional sci-fi fantasy adventure that’s buoyed by an excellent ensemble cast. In short, I can’t really say much about how this film compares to its source material as I’ll admit that I’ve never read A Wrinkle in Time. Seriously, the only experience that I had with this story prior to seeing this film was when I saw an ad for the previously mentioned made-for-TV film from 2003 on an old Disney DVD. Despite this, though, I bet that this adaptation of it could very well satisfy fans of the book; at the very least, more so than the previous film version.

Rating: 4.5/5

Pan (2015) review

In 1904, author J.M. Barrie wrote the play ‘Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up’, which was later published as a novel in 1911. The play/novel centered on the titular Peter Pan, a young boy who, as indicated by the title of the story, ‘never grew up’ and can fly as he has numerous adventures in the fantastical world of Neverland. Numerous stage productions of Barrie’s play have been put on over the years and the character of Peter Pan has also been brought to the big-screen multiple times. Most of you are probably familiar with the 1953 animated film from Disney but there were some other adaptations after that, including a 1991 sequel in director Steven Spielberg’s ‘Hook’ and a 2003 adaptation of the original story that many consider to be highly underrated as it was an underperformer at the box office when it was first released in theaters. This year sees the release of another take on the character of Peter Pan in the form of ‘Pan’, directed by Joe Wright, a director known for classical romance films like ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Anna Karenina’. As for ‘Pan’, it takes a different route from previous adaptations by serving as a prequel to the original story, showcasing how a young Peter first came to Neverland and how he first met the man who would later become his most notable adversary, Captain James Hook. But ultimately this new take on Peter Pan ends up majorly suffering from the curse of ‘prequelitis’ despite having a genuinely creative vision of this world.

The film begins as a young Peter is left at a London orphanage by his mother Mary (Amanda Seyfried). 12 years later, in the midst of World War II and the Blitz, Peter (Levi Miller) lives his average life in the orphanage, frequently getting into trouble with his caretakers while also yearning for the day when his mother will finally return for him. But then everything starts to change when, one night, Peter and some of the other orphans are taken from their beds by pirates in a flying pirate ship, which then takes them to the world of Neverland. There they are forced into being slaves for the ruthless pirate Blackbeard (Hugh Jackman), who has them mining all-day for the substance known as fairy dust so that he can stay young forever. Peter soon learns that he may just be the boy talked about in an ancient prophecy established by the natives of Neverland; the offspring of a human mother and a fairy father who can fly that will one day lead the native people of Neverland in an uprising against Blackbeard. This leads to him teaming up with fellow miner James Hook (Garrett Hedlund), and later warrior princess Tiger Lily (Rooney Mara), in order to stop Blackbeard before he ends up finding the secret fairy kingdom of Neverland.

There’s no denying that Joe Wright definitely put a lot of effort into bringing his vision of Peter Pan and the world of Neverland to life. This film’s biggest strength is easily its art/production design, which produces quite a lot of interesting visuals as well as some pretty fun action sequences, from a scene early on where a pirate ship flies through London while being chased by fighter pilots to a scene in which Hook and one of the natives fight on a bunch of trampolines. With that said, yes there is quite a lot of CGI in this film but unlike a lot of other critics, that is not my biggest issue with it. Ultimately the main issue comes with the writing. From a prequel standpoint, this film suffers from the same issue that plagued the ‘Star Wars’ prequels in that the references made to the original story, from the alligator that would go on to chase Hook to, of course, Tinker Bell, generally lack subtlety. Not only that, but the plot also feels a bit rushed, getting through key scenes quickly at the expense of character development. Obviously a key part to this story is the relationship between Peter and Hook but the film never once explores how the two end up becoming rivals, basically leaving that door open for a sequel that will probably never happen.

As far as the cast is concerned, Wright definitely selected a nice ensemble to fill out the main roles. As Peter Pan, Levi Miller brings the right amount of childlike innocence and charisma to the role. The same, save for the childlike innocence part, can be said for Garrett Hedlund as Hook. Clearly modeled after Han Solo (in fact, the main trio of Peter, Hook, and Tiger Lily are basically just Luke, Han, and Leia), Hedlund is very charismatic and energetic in the role and provides some of the film’s best comedic relief. The casting of Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily attracted quite a bit of controversy due to the fact that a Caucasian actress was cast in the role of a Native-American character. Not paying that any mind due to the fact that I never like to talk about race here, I will say that Mara is actually the biggest standout of the film, as she provides a much more serious and down-to-earth performance that actually contrasts pretty well with all of the chaos that goes on in this film. And then we come to Hugh Jackman as the main villain, Blackbeard… and as much as I hate to say it he’s the weakest link of the film. For the record, Jackman does bring the same level of enthusiasm and energy that he brings to a lot of his other roles and it’s clear that he’s really having fun in what is a rare villainous turn for him. I get that the character of Blackbeard was meant to be a fairly exaggerated villain and Jackman’s over-the-top performance matches up pretty well with the overall tone of the film but sometimes it’s just a bit too much, like when he and his lackeys start singing Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and Ramones’ ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’.

I really wanted to love ‘Pan’, I really did. I do remember watching the Disney film growing up and recently I’ve been really big on there being more PG-rated family films in an industry that’s lately been dominated with films that are rated PG-13 and up. But ultimately ‘Pan’ just ended up giving off a vibe similar to that of the ‘Star Wars’ prequels… and keep in mind that I don’t ‘hate’ those films like the majority of the internet does. Now I can’t fault this film for its creative vision because it is there. The film does carry the right spirit of adventure that’s necessary for this kind of story and the film’s unique production/art design does result in some fun moments from time to time. But at the end of the day ‘Pan’ is a prime case of a prequel that legitimately suffers from the curse of ‘prequelitis’, mostly due to a story that is rushed and references to the original source material that aren’t at all subtle. No it’s not the worst film that I’ve seen this year, heck it’s not even as bad as the 22% rating on RT currently suggests. But at the same time it wasn’t really a film that I was a big fan of either. It genuinely had good intentions to be a fun family film so for families, I actually do sort of recommend it even after all that I’ve just said about it. I have the feeling kids may like it. Ultimately though for me, it ended up being a rather muddled and misguided take on the classic story of Peter Pan even though its heart was in the right place. Dare I ask… why couldn’t this just be done by Disney?

Rating: 2/5