PRINTER FRIENDLY VIEW
(inverts site colors)

The friendly demeanor of the score for A Wrinkle in Time is owed to its orchestral and choral foundation and Djawadi's aversion to complex musical structures throughout. Never does the orchestra sound challenged by the constructs of the composition, and the choir most often bubbles along with the most innocuous children's choir tones of optimism and charm. Electronic effects, whether looped or as solo accents, are tastefully applied. Specialty exotic instrumentation is included occasionally and is missed in other cues, the use of pan flutes, bowls, and groaning, Eastern-inspired, string-like tones serving to balance the writing's simplicity with interesting personality. Thematically, A Wrinkle in Time includes one primary idea and a host of secondary motifs, though many of these themes are not developed individually or intertwined as well as one might hope. The main theme is a keenly rising and falling affair, suggesting loops in time, and it sadly takes until "The Universe is Within All of Us" before it receives any impressively layered or customized treatment beyond new-agey benevolence of the most simplistic kind in "A Wrinkle in Time," "Happy Medium," and "Uriel," among others. Only in the final, victorious cue does Djawadi finally play with the progressions to supply some distinctive variation on the otherwise stale and conservative idea, though he alters one note in the interlude sequence at 0:48 in a darkening, minor-mode way that sounds almost like a performance flub. One could argue that "A Wrinkle in Time" emulates Horner's Avatar with the same lightly choral and thumping electronic love that Edmund Choi's 2000 score for The Dish emulated Apollo 13, and the latter half of "Happy Medium" will solicit the Newman and Danna comparisons. The bird-like accents to "Uriel" are a nice touch to aid the metallic percussion, though the theme is no more evolved by this point. Such is the problem with much of A Wrinkle in Time; there is little intelligent complexity in counterpoint or other substantive lines of action in the thematic statements. Slow tempos compound this problem, making the music sound shallow in its lyrical passages. The otherwise lovely emotional catharsis in the piano, string, and solo female vocal portion of "Sorry I'm Late," for instance, is sapped by a lack of convincing depth to the music. Djawadi has to stir the soul better than this.

A wealth of secondary motific exploration exists in A Wrinkle in Time, but little of it congeals into meaningful associations. There is a block of motifs representing friends and family, another block for the three celestial women, and a final one for the villain of the story. The friends material is maddeningly decentered, representing family and the trials of the children outside of the scope of the main theme with solo string and/or piano renditions in "Home," "Forgive Me," and "Tesseract" meandering about. The material for the three women and their encouragement of the youths' discovery of the universe is arguably a highlight, the synthetic and organic blends in "Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which," "Touch the Stars," and "Tap Into Your Mind" sadly underplayed in the score's overarching scheme. A rising, slurred note to conclude a crescendo near the ends of "Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which," "Tap Into Your Mind," and "Sorry I'm Late" is a notable, mind-altering technique that is alluded to elsewhere as well. The villain's theme consists of three descending notes in its first phrase and the identical three notes rising to a fourth addition in the second phrase. Existing early in "Darkness Across the Universe" before transitioning into the friends and family material on piano, this identity informs the score's most abrasive action cue, "Camazotz" (Remote Control fans will appreciate the latter half of this track as a guilty pleasure moment), and is reprised in massive choral form in "Be a Warrior." Unfortunately, this theme doesn't musically battle any of the other identities, instead yielding to easily tonal expressions of fantasy in each case. Overall, Djawadi's approach towards A Wrinkle in Time is easily accessible and strains not to offend. Even the songs included on the soundtrack, including the return of British performer Sade for the original entry, "Flower of the Universe," are digestible to a fault. There is nothing really wrong with this overall musical product except for its deliberate choice to emulate soothing fantasy or conservative action tones at every instance, the composition emphasizing harmonious glory in perpetual payoff mode rather than building its narrative up to that deliverance. Had this score debuted in the 1990's, it would have existed as a comfortable, four-star companion to Horner's equivalents of the era. But this territory is too well traversed now for such simplistic appeal to function; instead, it sounds frustratingly stale and borderline disingenuous. Still, turn off your brain and appreciate this score as suitable sonic wallpaper with which to set a mindless fantasy ambience while you task yourself with other endeavors.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Total Time: 72:14