A WRINKLE IN TIME – A Review by Hollywood Hernandez
A Wrinkle in Time is based on a fantasy novel from the 1960's by Madeleine L'Engle. The story is about the good and the evil in the world and, in the turbulent 1960's, the writer's perspective was that evil was winning. Sadly, 50 years later, things haven't changed that much. The story uses time and space to represent the battle between good and evil and how one young middle school girl is called upon to be a warrior who can save the world.
Storm Reid plays Meg Murry, the daughter to a couple of brilliant physicists, whose father (Dr. Alex Murry, Chris Pine from Star Trek) goes missing after he discovers how to travel between different dimensions. On the anniversary of her father's disappearance, the young girl is teased and treated cruelly by the "popular girls" at school. The young, bright girl that Meg once was has now been replaced by a moody and doubting young lady who is detached from the rest of the world. Her only friend, besides her mother (Dr. Kate Murry, Gugu Mbatha Raw frome Belle) and brother is a boy at school who's considered one of the "popular kids."
Then she is visited in her back yard by three time and space traveling warriors who want Meg to join them to help find her father and to defeat the darkness in the universe. The Three warriors are Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey), Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon from Legally Blonde) and Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling from The Mindy Project). Oprah makes her first appearance in the movie as a 20 foot tall regal looking queen, and with her loud giant voice booming, she was the spitting image of RuPaul. However, that comparison goes away when she appears in the rest of the movie as a regular sized person. (Thank goodness.)
With the help of their three guides, Meg, her brother and her classmate, travel to a different dimension to begin their search for her father. This is where director Ava DuVernay (Selma) earns her money. She has created an amazing and colorful world that is a delight to watch on the big screen. You'll have to resist from "ooooing" and "awwwing" for the remainder of the movie. The world that DuVernay brings to life is simply stunning. A Wrinkle in Time also makes history with its $100 million dollar production budget; making DuVernay the first African American woman to ever be given the opportunity to make a movie with a $100 million budget.
Much like the movie Black Panther, A Wrinkle in Time is also ground breaking because of its positive portrayal of a young African American girl. Already at advanced screenings groups of Girl Scouts and Girls Club members have been treated to the movie because of its inspiring message. As Oprah Winfrey said on the red carpet on opening night, the message of the movie is, "you are enough." It's the kind of inspiring message that makes you leave the theater feeling a little better than when you came in.
Do be warned, however, that parts of the movie are a little dark and scary. It's rated PG but I'd be hesitant to take a little girl to the movie who was under 10. The movie has a run time of 1 hour and 49 minutes. On my "Hollywood Popcorn Scale", I rate A Wrinkle in Time a JUMBO!
Movie Site: http://movies.disney.com/a-wrinkle-in-time
