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Home / Entertainment

Mixed reviews for 'wildly uneven' A Wrinkle in Time

NZ Herald
7 Mar, 2018 09:10 PM3 mins to read

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Source: Youtube / Disney

It was filmed in New Zealand with an A-list cast that included Oprah Winfrey.

But early reviews for A Wrinkle in Time, an adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's 1962 sci-fi novel, have been decidedly mixed.

Variety calls it "wildly uneven, weirdly suspenseless, and tonally all over the place".

But the Los Angeles Times calls it "an otherworldly glitter explosion of a movie, the kind of picture that wears its heart on its tie-dyed sleeve".

Starring Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling, and directed by Selma's Ava DuVernay, the big budget Disney movie was filmed in Wanaka in early 2017.

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It follows Meg who is sent into space with her brother and friend to find her scientist father.

On Metacritic, the film has a 55 per cent approval rating.

Read what the critics are saying:

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"This Wrinkle in Time is undoubtedly flawed, wildly uneven and apt to tie itself in narrative knots in a quest to wow you with sheer Technicolor weirdness. It's also undeniably DuVernay's movie as much as Disney's, and works best when she puts her feminine energy, high-flying freak flag and sense of empathy front and center."

- Rolling Stone

"By turns gorgeous, propulsive and feverishly overwrought, A Wrinkle in Time is an otherworldly glitter explosion of a movie, the kind of picture that wears its heart on its tie-dyed sleeve."

-Los Angeles Times

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"It almost doesn't matter that the movie is too emotionally prescriptive to have any real power, or too high on imagination to leave any room for wonder; DuVernay evinces such faith in who she is and what she's doing that A Wrinkle in Time remains true to itself even when everything on screen reads false."

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"Movie magic is an elusive thing. A Wrinkle in Time is a bold film that takes big chances from start to finish, in a courageous effort to be something special.... But for all its scenes of characters flying and soaring and zooming here and there, it never really takes off."

-Chicago Sun-Times

"Director Ava DuVernay's version of the beloved children's classic has a big cast and the best of intentions. It's socially progressive, racially diverse and packed with positive messages. It's just not much fun."

-New York Daily News

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"A Wrinkle in Time is wildly uneven, weirdly suspenseless, and tonally all over the place, relying on wall-to-wall music to supply the missing emotional connection and trowel over huge plot holes."

-Variety

"The film is tentative and over-protective, as though it's terrified that a story empowering kids to help good battle evil could give someone a nightmare. It reduces the whole universe to one girl's self-esteem."

- The Guardian

A Wrinkle in Time is released on April 12.

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