Movie review: A Wrinkle in Time

THERE is so much hype surrounding this movie especially after the huge success of Black Panther.
Featuring a young heroine who is African-American, a cast that included media powerhouse Oprah Winfrey, and a director who turned down Black Panther for a chance to make this film, the publicity machine went into overdrive.
High box-office returns were expected, especially with this being the first film directed by a woman of colour boasting a budget of over US$100 million (RM390 million).
Too bad it does not live up to its hype. The story is average, the direction could be better and characters could have been fleshed out more.
That being said, the young stars do a commendable job and some of the visual effects are pretty cool.
The movie is based on the sci-fi novel A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, and tells the story of sad, miserable Meg (Storm Reid) whose father Dr Alex Murry (Chris Pine) has been missing for four years after an experiment involving space travel goes awry.
Her mother, Dr Kate Murry (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who worked with her husband on his project seems distant from her children. That leaves Meg and her adopted younger brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) looking out for each other.
While Meg seems to have given up ever seeing their father again, Charles Wallace, who is a very unique boy, has somehow befriended some mysterious beings: Mrs Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), Mrs Who (Mindy Kaling), and Mrs Which (Winfrey), who want to help them find their father who has somehow travelled across the universe.
With Meg's popular schoolmate Calvin (Levi Miller) who has a soft spot of Meg along for the ride, the three children go on a journey across various planets only to discover that Alex is now a prisoner of a dark entity called It.
This movie is capable of being so much better but the director failed to make the characters more likeable and relatable.