A Wrinkle In Time

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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Doctor Who is a well-known fictional time traveler. But the new Disney movie “A Wrinkle in Time” gives him a run on his clock by introducing three astral travelers named Mrs. Which, Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who.

Based on the award-winning children’s book of the same name, “A Wrinkle in Time” gives us Meg Murry (played by Storm Reid) as a gawky, bespectacled 14-year-old girl whose astrophysicist father (Chris Pine) has disappeared, leaving behind his biologist wife (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and their children.

When Meg learns he’s being held captive on a distant planet, she and her 5-year-old Brainiac brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) and fellow student Calvin (Levi Miller) set off to rescue him, with the trio of celestial beings guiding the children along their journey.

Are they witches?

Or something else?

Unlike Shakespeare’s double-double-toil-and-trouble Weird Sisters, this threesome takes the form (kinda) of Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling.

These otherworldly guides show the kids how to use wrinkles in the space-time continuum to search distant planets for their dad. This leads to a sort of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, introducing a zootopia of aliens (Zach Galifianakis, Michael Peña, et. al.). Along the way, the three children must confront a shadowy Evil that threatens the universe.

Disney seems fond of the story. In 2003 the Mouse House produced a made-for-television version. Now, here they go again. “A Wrinkle in Time” is playing at the Tropic Cinema.

It should be noted that director Ava DuVernay (“Selma”) has dared to deviate from Madeleine L’Engle’s classic 1962 novel. Aside from relocating the Murry home to downtown Los Angeles, we discover Meg is no longer a redhead, having been transformed into a frizzy-haired black teen. Similarly, many members of the cast don’t look like their literary counterparts. Meg’s twin brothers (in the book) have disappeared in this telling.

As DuVernay explains, “I feel like it’s not a shiny, bright Disney movie. I love shiny, bright Disney movies, but this is a movie that embraces a bit of a quirkier, darker edge, like the book.”

Madeleine L’Engle tells us her book was rejected by 26 publishers, before going on to win the prestigious Newbery Medal.

A hodgepodge of magic, folklore, and dystopian nightmare, the book has been called “illogical, derivative and confusing, with a rushed and unconvincing ending.” Some view it as a religious allegory, while others see it as pure science fiction.

When all’s said and done, “A Wrinkle in Time” bears less in common with Shakespeare or Douglas Adams or a Disney movie than it does with L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz.” But this is no MGM musical nor does it feature a young Judy Garland.

But Oprah’s a pretty good travel companion if you’re going to explore the universe.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com