More mess than magic

A Wrinkle in Time (PG)

A starry cast struggles to save this muddled Disney adventure that can’t seem to settle on a definitive tone.

Fortunately, the visuals are wondrous enough to make up for the lack of coherence. Special mention to Storm Reid, too, with the 15-year-old matching her more experienced co-stars stride for stride.

My Friend Dahmer (15)

Ex-disney Channel regular Ross Lynch embraces the challenge of playing notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer during his high school days.

The claustrophobic seventies setting also convinces but writer-director Marc Meyers’ film never truly gets under Dahmer’s skin and lacks anyone to root for.

Pacific Rim: Uprising (12)

Forget all of the grandiose special effects — which are impressive, albeit a little more video-gamey that those in its predecessor — John Boyega is Uprising’s ace in the hole.

After becoming a household name as a result of his already iconic turns as Finn in the new Star Wars trilogy, the 26-year-old proves he can carry a blockbuster movie on his shoulders with a charismatic leading-man turn.

But where the first movie had heart and depth to go along with its city-smashing, this sequel’s story doesn’t amount to much beyond a “let’s go to war” mind-set.

The globe-trotting element allows for the battles between giant, human-operated robots and monsters to play out in a series of diverse environments.