A Wrinkle in Time

The fantastic journey through space and time was as engaging visually as it was narratively.

The film's themes of love, family and self-acceptance are powerful enough to resonate with audiences. But the concept and casting shouldn't be the most magical parts of a fantasy film, no matter how enchanting its message is.

What DuVernay has delivered is essentially a feature-length screensaver which operates on the assumption that cinema for children is a matter of bright colours and dippy sentiment.

A Wrinkle in Time unevenly ambles along with a nice message about families, love and self-acceptance, and sprinkled with some visually spectacular sequences. But it's ultimately unsatisfying for anyone over 15 years old.

Somehow I doubt that Disney is about to spawn another franchise from what we have here. Maybe children will get more fun from reading the books. Now there's a thought.

Unfortunately, well-intentioned as it is, it's hard to imagine that this sparkly mess of a movie will connect with cinema-goers far beyond its core audience of 10-to-14-year-old girls.

A Wrinkle in Time is for kids, and I mean 'made for kids' in the supportive definition rather than the usual lazy and disparaging connotation that's carelessly applied to more lukewarm family films.

The visually impressive adventure saga gets bogged down in corny dialogue.

This colossal springboard from the family film of teen issues to the epic intergalactic adventure "A Wrinkle in Time" desires to be is more than a little haphazard.

The film's visual and tonal approach has been pushed to erratic limits, overriding and distracting from the characters at its center.