‘A Wrinkle in Time’: Visual delight or muddled mess?
Early reactions to A Wrinkle in Time set the tone for a film that divided viewers even before it reached theaters. The 2018 adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic children’s book arrived with visual ambition and a stacked cast, yet many observers immediately noted the gap between its striking imagery and its narrative struggles. Director Ava DuVernay assembled a lineup that paired Oprah Winfrey with Reese Witherspoon and Chris Pine while giving Storm Reid her first major lead role as Meg Murry, the girl tasked with rescuing her father and restoring order to fractured time. The early comments captured both the excitement and the skepticism that would define the project’s reception.
Positive voices surfaced quickly. Roxane Gay described the film as a lovely, gorgeously shot, inspiring movie and urged audiences to give it a chance. Jurnee Smollett-Bell, fresh from Underground, echoed the enthusiasm on social media, declaring that viewers should run to see the film and calling newcomer Storm Reid a powerhouse. Geek Girl Diva admitted the story made her cry multiple times, connecting the father-daughter themes to her own childhood loss. Kirbie Johnson observed that despite its kid-centric focus, the movie carried the emotional pull common to many Disney releases, tugging at adult heartstrings as well.
Other early responders highlighted the adaptation’s fidelity to the source material. Rachel Paige noted that the film captured the feeling of watching a beloved childhood book come to life. These comments aligned with the production’s stated goal of preserving L’Engle’s blend of science, spirituality, and emotional discovery while updating the story for a modern audience.
Critics who attended the first screenings offered a more guarded assessment. Sean Mulvihill of Fanboy Nation tweeted that the film simply was not good, citing a lack of flow and isolated moments that came alive too late to salvage the overall experience. Gregory Ellwood acknowledged noble intentions yet concluded that the movie did not work, pointing to a long list of structural and tonal issues. He singled out the soundtrack contributions from Sade and Demi Lovato as one of the few bright spots amid the problems.
Conner Schwerdtfeger offered a mixed verdict, praising the film’s visual ambition and its faithfulness to the novel while noting that the story felt all over the place and struggled to land its themes. He credited DuVernay with attempting a nearly unfilmable book, even if the execution fell short. Todd VanDerWerff predicted the project would prove divisive yet appreciated its openhearted approach to childhood and its willingness to wear emotion plainly rather than hide behind irony.
One of the harshest early takes came from Christian D. Green, who labeled the film a tragedy and gave it two thumbs down. These conflicting reactions reflected the tension that would follow the movie through release and beyond.
Box Office Performance and Financial Outcome
Once A Wrinkle in Time reached theaters, its commercial performance confirmed the divide visible in those early reactions. The film grossed roughly $133 million worldwide against a reported budget between $100 million and $130 million. Industry analysis from Deadline Hollywood later estimated Disney’s net loss at approximately $130.6 million after marketing and distribution costs. The result placed the movie among the more expensive disappointments of its year and underscored how difficult it can be to translate a cult literary property into broad theatrical success.
Streaming Availability and Modern Accessibility
Viewers today can access the film without hunting down physical media or waiting for rare television airings. A Wrinkle in Time has streamed on Disney+ in the United States since March 2020. The platform placement gave the movie a second life with families who discovered it during the early months of the pandemic and with younger audiences encountering L’Engle’s story for the first time through a streaming service rather than a multiplex.
Aggregate Scores and Lasting Reception
Final critic and audience aggregates tell a clearer story than any single tweet. A Wrinkle in Time holds a 43 percent Tomatometer score from 342 reviews and a 26 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Its Metacritic score sits at 53, placing it in the mixed or average range. The consensus description notes the film’s visual beauty and big-hearted tone while pointing to execution problems that kept it from achieving the cohesion its source material demanded. These numbers align with the split reactions that surfaced the moment the embargo lifted.
Storm Reid's Career Reflections
Storm Reid, then thirteen, carried the weight of the lead role and the weight of early casting commentary. In later interviews she recalled that some observers questioned whether she was the right choice for Meg. Reid has spoken about facing that initial pushback yet choosing to move forward with the work. She has continued acting in subsequent projects, turning the experience into part of a longer career arc rather than a single defining moment.
The film’s journey from embargo-lift excitement to measured legacy shows how quickly early buzz can shift once numbers and repeat viewings enter the conversation. A Wrinkle in Time remains a striking visual experiment that some audiences embrace for its sincerity and others set aside for its narrative roughness. Its place in the Disney catalog now rests as much on streaming accessibility and young viewers discovering it at home as on the theatrical moment that first divided opinion.
