Ava DuVernay's long-awaited adaptation of the fantasy novel A Wrinkle in Time is very nearly ready to arrive in US and UK cinemas, but the initial buzz is anything but positive, sadly.

The ambitious Disney project aims to bring to life Madeleine L'Engle's time-and-space-spanning novel, which has oft been described as unfilmable. And, judging by the early reviews, maybe those sceptics were right.

Despite having a hugely talented director in DuVernay, a script from Frozen's Jennifer Lee, and Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Mindy Kaling as its main stars, critics seem to be very underwhelmed by A Wrinkle in Time. Even Disney-friendly Entertainment Weekly called it a "disappointing mess".

Disney

Before you invest nearly two hours of your time in a movie that might taint the love for your childhood story, have a look at these warnings:

"So A Wrinkle in Time hits that unfortunate un-sweet spot common to big-budget science-fiction/fantasy, where the spectacle feels more summarized than experienced. (Not helping much: Ramin Djawadi's oddly terrible score, screaming emotions like an overgrown thought balloon covering up its own illustration.) Almost nothing works, but there are bursts of real camp energy."

"Less than a month after Black Panther, Ava DuVernay's fantasy tentpole makes strides for representation, while botching key aspects of the beloved Madeleine L'Engle novel."

"What is a tesseract? I'm really asking, because the concept is central to the mechanics of Disney's new film adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time, and yet it is never clearly explained. Instead, it remains a vague and confusing device, a plot convenience that carries our heroes from one heavily production-designed planet to another as they search for a missing parent.

"It's just one annoyance in director Ava DuVernay's hurried, labored film, which arrives as a glum disappointment after a couple of years of hype."

Disney

"For all its scenes of characters flying and soaring and zooming here and there, it never really takes off."

"The power of love can only do so much in Disney's misbegotten A Wrinkle in Time...across the board, this disappointing Time will cause more than a little wrinkling of the forehead in frustration."

"The film has the feel of a iPad video pawned off on a toddler so Dad can make comforting mac and cheese – here's a bite-sized lesson about loving yourself and a jumble of pretty colours."

"Only the faintest glimmers of genuine, earned emotion pierce through the layers of intense calculation that encumber Ava DuVernay's A Wrinkle in Time. Disney's lavish adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's fantastical 1962 book (there were four sequels) about a girl's journey through multiple dimensions to find her long-missing father may provide enough distractions to keep kids in the lowest double-digits age range interested."

Disney

However, not all of the reviews were negative:

"Fans of the book and admirers of Ms. DuVernay's work – I include myself in both groups – can breathe a sigh of relief, and some may also find that their breath has been taken away."

"Every generation gets The NeverEnding Story it deserves. This one may very well be ours."

"A visually dazzling, if tonally meandering odyssey that tempers its sci-fi gravitas with a child's sense of humor. It's the rare live-action family film to feel like a bonafide kids' movie."

Disney

A Wrinkle in Time opens on March 23 in UK cinemas, and arrives in the US on Friday (March 9). Watch a trailer below:

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