Movies in Review: "A Wrinkle in Time"

I love me some Ava DuVernay, so I was more than excited to see her direct this science fantasy film based off the book of the same name by Madeleine L'Engle. I found the trailer for this film to be beautiful and exciting. I loved the diverse casting for characters, and visuals. Needless to say, my expectations were very high as DuVernay has already directed a combined number of films and TV shows that I love. I went into the theater with enthusiasm and walked out with dread about writing this review. ~smh

I'm not saying this movie was bad, but I will say if I had lowered my expectations I think I might have enjoyed it more. Unfortunately, this movie combines all its best parts in the trailer, then in the film these parts are spread out causing the film to drag, at least for me anyway. I was expecting the feeling I received from the trailer, and much more, but the much more never happened. Someone commented to me that I would have enjoyed it more with the mindset of a pre-teen. I can agree with this, as this age group is the targeted audience.  However, the novel was written in 1962, and any fan of the book would be my age or older (fyi...I never read the book). This movie may be more appealing to pre-teen girls, I'm not sure boys will find it as entertaining ~shrugs.

I wanted to love this movie more, but I felt it lacked character development. I felt thrown into the story and wanted to know a little more about what I was getting into. I also thought the film would be a little more visually appealing, but even that aspect was just ok. I wasn't wowed nearly as much as I thought I would be. The costumes and make-up were great, but Oprah's heavy glittered and beaded eye make-up was giving me anxiety. I swore she was going to slice her retina...lol. I did love Reese Witherspoon, she was the most enjoyable character along with the young actor who played Charles Wallace. The other kid actors could have used some help. The emotions of the main young actress felt contrived.

I wanted to love this movie, but by the final scene I was waiting for it to end. The final scene really dragged...omg...smh. The movie was perhaps a little too dramatic and was in my opinion too slow. It lacked character development in my opinion and missed the mark for me visually. I wish I had something better to say. I do think it's a decent film to see with your preteen daughters, for everyone else, if you lower your expectation you might find your experience to be more enjoyable...B-