OUR RATING: 2.5/5

“A Wrinkle in Time” sparks both curiosity and confusion as its puzzling storyline unravels and notable characters fail to live up to Disney-esque expectations.

“A Wrinkle in Time,” the first of a five-book series by Madeleine L’Engle, is an award-winning sci-fi fantasy story that makes time travel seem both excitingly cool and absolutely terrifying at the same time.

The story centers around the idea of time travel and the ability to transport oneself to other universes or moments in time through tesseracts – multi-dimensional phenomena that are a wrinkle in time and space – interconnecting to make entry points into different places and times.

Sounds pretty gnarly, right? Eh, not so much. The brilliant scientist behind the tesseract’s discovery goes missing for years without a trace, leaving his loved ones on planet Earth entirely unaware that he tesserred into another world, where he is being held captive by a dark and evil force.
*Scary and NO THANK YOU!*
At this point, Disney’s 2018 version of “A Wrinkle in Time” could’ve brought Oprah to Chris Pine’s rescue, or maybe have Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon team up with Oprah to create the second-best trio (next to Destiny’s Child) with one of the most epic rescue missions in Disney movie history.
Nope. Pine’s character (“Mr. Murray”) simply jumpstarts the movie and ends it with a typical Disney-esque ending. But his character is absent for a large chunk of the movie, although the entire plot revolves around his rescue.

The three Mrs. W’s – Mrs. Which (Oprah), Mrs. Whatsit (Witherspoon), and Mrs. Who (Kaling) – act as eccentric but wise long-living guardians of the universe who also travel by tessering and guide Mr. Murray’s children, Meg Murray and her brother, Charles Wallace, along with Meg’s classmate and crush, Calvin O’Keefe, to the world where Meg and Charles’ missing father can be found.

Although expected, it would have been equally amazing to have Oprah, Kaling and Witherspoon’s characters save the day and safely return scientist Murray to planet Earth. It is Murray’s kids and O’Keefe who are guided by Mrs. Which, Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who, and encouraged to work together and take on the rescue mission.

But as much as Oprah, Kaling, Pine and Witherspoon’s A-list celebrity statuses bring clout to the movie, and their characters bring vibrance to the film, it seems as if their roles in the movie were more to convince parents to agree to watch this film with their kids in hopes to spark literary nostalgia or at least see a decent film, considering the cast.

The overall message, plus the added scientific magic and enchanting worlds, are vivid and eye-catching. The story itself is puzzling; some parts dragged, while others rushed and left me with lots of questions that remain unanswered.

Much like a bad psychedelic trip – it looked cool, but everything else is a haze.