Friday, June 8, 2018

Film on Friday #57 - A Wrinkle in Time

©2018 Disney
A Wrinkle in Time is the award winning first book in Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quintet series. Walt Disney Studios has just released A Wrinkle in Time on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital format for home viewing. (This viewer received a copy free of charge from Walt Disney Studios in return for an honest review.)

As an avid reader, I had of course read the book many times - by myself and later on with my children. The adventure and the unknown was what I remembered the most.

The cast is star studded. Reese Witherspoon was perhaps my favourite of the 'Mrs.'s. She was warm and funny. Mindy Kaling has incredibly expressive eyes and facial expressions. Oprah Winfrey rounded out the three. I found it hard to separate Oprah's 'real life' persona from this role. I just kept seeing and hearing Oprah, despite the elaborate costumes and make up.Which were excellent by the way, and conveyed the magic of the beings. Storm Reid turned in a great job as Meg. Deric McCabe as Charles Wallace gave us a precocious performance. He is a talented young actor. I did find it hard to hear what he was saying sometimes as he talked quickly and his voice is young and high pitched. Levi Miller as Calvin ended up being my favourite player though. His understated performance was believable, touching and memorable.

The movie has a PG rating. Guidance is needed for some parts - notably when they are battling the evil IT. It may be too frightening for younger children, both visually, audibly and the event itself. Some of the bullying that happens to Meg at school is truly awful and should hopefully trigger some discussion if watching with children.

The special effects were  spectacular. I have to say the the living flowers were my favourite bit.

Did I find that sense of adventure in this movie version? Yes, I did. There were some additions and subtractions from the original book. Most were minor, some are larger. Mrs. Which is only a voice in the books. It is Meg who trusts the Mrs.'s, instead of Calvin and The Happy Medium is a bit different. The biggest bit not included in the movie was the section after they find Dad and before they return home.

This latest Disney screen version of A Wrinkle in Time, was good but not great for this viewer. I think every age bracket will take away something different. One with the universe as a concept will also need to be discussed with younger viewers. Check out the official Walt Disney Studio trailer below. See what others thought on Twitter using the hash tag #WrinkleInTime.


4 comments:

bermudaonion said...

A friend of mine saw this one with her kids and said pretty much the same thing you did. They liked it but didn't love it.

Ethan said...

I remember having a mixed reaction to the book, and middling reviews stopped me from seeing it in theaters. Hopefully it will be on Netflix soon!

Dianna said...

I loved this book as a child, so I was very excited that it was being remade. My family watched this in the theater together. It wasn't the best movie ever -- but I LOVE that it brought attention to a book that's been long forgotten by today's children. For a few weeks before the movie came out, I read the book aloud to my classes. Many of them went to see the movie. That was a success!

Luanne said...

Bermudaonion - Yes, it was entertaining and well done, but didn't knock my socks off. It was only after watching it that I read other reviews. And was relieved to see I wasn't alone in my thinking.

Ethan - Yes, there were a lot of middling reviews. And the book is older, so may not appeal to today's audiences.

Dianna - Ahh, it's nice to hear that it captured your class's interest! That indeed is a success!