Meg Murry's father went missing four years ago, shortly after the arrival of her foster brother, Charles Wallace (no-one calls him 'just' Charles). This disappearance is the subject of continued gossip at their school, perhaps partly because of Meg's own self-isolation and Charles Wallace's general oddness.
'Odd' probably isn't quite strong enough a word to describe Charles Wallace's new friend Mrs Whatsit, though. She's outright weird: and she's also just the beginning of the strangeness that's about to invade Meg's life. Because her dad didn't do this disappearing thing by halves, and finding him - which is what she needs to do - is going to involve some truly out of this world experiences.
Last year, I read the novel on which this film is based. I have to confess I wasn't that impressed with it, so I had reasonably low expectations of the film. Unfortunately, even those weren't really met. No disrespect to the cast, who are personable and work really hard to make this seem like a magical adventure, but the script just doesn't work all that well.
For one thing, it's got a number of "big spectacle" scenes that really don't feel like they're there to be anything but spectacle. They don't really connect narratively or emotionally. For a second, the entire last act is basically people talking at each other, and again, the whole thing lacks much emotional heft.
I will pay the one "creepy suburbia" scene which is pretty well executed. But that's not enough to lift this into even a qualified recommendation.
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