Story
In A Wrinkle in Time, 13-year-old Meg Murray (Storm Reid) has found it increasingly difficult to adjust to life without her father. Dr Alex Murray (Chris Pine), a brilliant scientist, has disappeared without a trace while working on a theory about people being able to ‘tesseract’, or travel, by using a specific frequency and the power of their minds. Unable to bear the separation any longer, Meg sets out to find her dad, along with her genius little brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) and classmate Calvin O’Keefe (Levi Miller). The children are aided by three supernatural beings – Mrs Which (Oprah Winfrey), Mrs Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon) and Mrs Who (Mindy Kahling). These beings help to protect the universe from the darkness, which threatens to take over. Their quest to find Dr Murray takes them to places they’d never imagined. It forces them to develop capacities and strengths they didn’t know they had, and it sends them to a planet that possesses all the evil in the universe. Together they must face the darkness, the unknown and their worst fears. Ultimately they discover that the power to bring Dr Murray home has been within their grasp the whole time.
Themes
Children separated from a parent; bullying.
Violence
There is some violence in A Wrinkle in Time. For example:
Sexual references
There are no sexual references in A Wrinkle in Time.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
There is no use of substances in A Wrinkle in Time.
Nudity and sexual activity
There is some nudity and sexual activity in A Wrinkle in Time. For example:
- Dr Murray and his wife kiss a couple of times.
- When Mrs Whatsit changes from her human form into that of a flying creature, Calvin turns away quickly. Nudity is implied but the audience sees nothing.
Product placement
There is no product placement in A Wrinkle in Time.
Coarse language
There is no coarse language in the movie, although school bullies say some hurtful things. Meg and her father are both called ‘crazy’. ‘Shut up’ is also used on several times.
Ideas to discuss with your children
A Wrinkle in Time is a family fantasy adventure based on the classic children’s novel by Madeleine L’Engle.
The main messages from this movie are about:
- embracing your uniqueness
- being brave enough to fight the darkness no matter what form it takes
- recognising the power of love and the fact that love is always there, even when you can’t see it.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include courage, perseverance, teamwork and love.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the importance of:
- believing in yourself and your abilities – for example, Meg is able to save both Calvin and herself by using her mathematical abilities to calculate a trajectory to propel them to safety
- seeing things from other people’s points of view – for example, despite the fact that a girl at school treats Meg terribly, Meg can see that the girl’s behaviour relates to how the girls feels about herself, rather than anything to do with Meg.