My "A Wrinkle in Time" 2018 Movie Review

Now before I mention anything, yes, there will be spoilers and yes, you should just go ahead and read the book if you haven't already.

So what did I think of this movie. Sadly, I was greatly disappointed and I honestly went into it with high hopes. I mean surely film technology has come so far, it can't be as bad as the 2003 version of the book... actually it was pretty bad.

Where do I begin? How about characters.

Characters:

If you go off the movie (don't like I already said go read the book or find an unabridged recording of it) Meg and her brother, Charles Wallace are the only children in the Murry family. Wrong. There is also a pair of twins who compared to their other siblings are actually the popular kids at school.

Next let's talk about Calvin. In the movie, this other girl Victoria is made out to be the big bully that pesters Meg, however in the book it is actually Calvin's younger brothers that are the bullies and had started harassing Meg after she stood up to them when they were picking on her younger brother Charles. Also the movie conveniently changes it so that Calvin's father is verbally abusive, however in the book it is in fact his mother who is both verbally and physically abuse (is this a big deal, yes, because she becomes a key player in the next two books).

Then there is Mrs. Whatsit, who comes across a lot harsher in the movie then she did in the book. Also the "true" form they give her as a flying piece of lettuce in the movie isn't at all as awesome as the alien centaur form she is shown to have in the book (for crying out loud even the 2003 movie did this right and that movie was garbage).

But wait there's more...

The Missing Aunt Beast Scene

Probably one of my most favorite moments in any of the novels I have read is the one with the Aunt Beast. When Charles is under the influence of IT, Meg's father has enough light to open a tesseract (think wormhole) to teleport Meg, Calvin and himself away. In the movie, Meg somehow stays behind and immediately skips to the whole save Charles from IT climax.

In the book the three of them are teleported out but Meg is injured in the process. When she comes to, Meg finds herself in a subterranean world being healed by a humanoid(ish) creature with four tentacle arms and no eyes. During her recovery Meg can't see the creature and has to trust that it means her no harm (because there isn't any light in the underground tunnels) and talks to the Aunt Beast (which is the nickname she gives it) about the concept of Sight. This puzzles the Aunt Beast as none of its kind have needed sight and have simply used touch and sound as a means of navigating its own world.

Its not even that they are born blind, the Aunt Beasts literally have NO eyes.

In a way, this event helps Meg to grow so that she can return to Camazotz and save her brother from IT.

Its actually a very beautifully written moment if you ask my opinion, however it is completely absent from the movie. Even if they had provided light in the caves, I would have loved to see this scene in the movie, but it is absent.

Happy Light Ending

This movie makes the same mistake that the 2003 movie did. With Charles Wallace freed of the IT's influence the world of Camazotz is writhed with light and IT is defeated. This doesn't happen in the book. In the book they escape but Camazotz is still under the IT's control.

There is still darkness and those on Camazotz are still mindless slaves under It's control. And it's still out there.

Then there is the music...

Music

I swear the audio director must have been given a challenge to use every single pop song they heard on the radio in their car on the way to work that day for this movie. If you thought the recent My Little Pony movie overdid pop song like music in the movie, I can assure you that movie was conservative in its use of pop music compared to this movie. At least in the new MLP movie the songs fit (for the most part) while a lot of the songs in this movie felt like they were forced in.

Visual Effects

The visual effects were great until they did things the contradicted the book (Like I said with Mrs. Whatsit in her "true" form earlier).

However there were times when the focus seemed... off. Like there were a few times at the beginning where my eyes would have a hard time focusing on a character because they were moving all of a sudden. I would say this could be something with my eyes, however it only seemed to happen during scenes near the beginning of the movie.

There are more sins!

Yes, indeed there are. A few of them I was willing to forgive due to the creators trying to "modernize" it, however when you consider that they messed up a LOT of bigger details, it really becomes a crime.

My Verdict

Like I've already said quite a few times up until now READ THE BOOK OR LISTEN TO AN UNABRIDGED RECORD. Don't bother with this movie or the 2003 version, you will save a lot more money just picking up the book (or an audiobook) at the library.

No offense to any of you who like Oprah (I'm not her biggest fan) but even she couldn't save this movie with her presence.

If I had to rate it, I would rate it a 1 out 5 Stars (and that's me being nice).

So skip the movie, save your time and go find the book at your local library. I won't even feel sorry if you miss out on my readings because of it, the book is just that good (and so is the rest of the series).

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Now that I'm done with my review, I hope you are all having a good day.