A Wrinkle In Time: A Review

To start off, a new chapter in the Tax Form Saga:

So, the government failed to send me a needed tax form when they were supposed to, and I called to ask where the heck it was. They told me it would come in a few weeks, which seems like a stupidly long time to wait to get an easily printed-out document, but whatever.

Anyway, today I get a packet from the organization in question. SUCCESS!

OR NOT! It wasn't the form; it was something entirely different. So I call again to see if they accidentally sent the wrong form and I get the notification that no, that wasn't supposed to be it, that my case was valid and they would be sending the form. That I should be getting it soon. But they don't know exactly when.

GAAAAAHHHHH!

Let this be my testimony, with all of you as my witness, that I am doing everything in my power to be a good citizen. If I end up having to file for a freakin' extension, IT IS NOT MY FAULT!

Okay, now on to the main attraction. Last Tuesday, I went to see the new A Wrinkle in Time movie.

I said I would, last week. I also said that I was predisposed to like it.

Guys, I really, really wanted to like it.

And there were things I did like about it. It's quite pretty to look at, and the child actors did a great job. It does decently at feeling large and spacious, like they are traveling around the galaxy and "wrinkling" timespace to do it. Science and physics has a strong place here, just like in the book. But, people, the book....

The movie was a pale, poor reflection of this book.

From here on out, I'm going to be going into details, so if you haven't read/seen this and would like to unspoiled, here's your spoiler warning.

Got it? Good. Now the full review.

Like I said, I think the actors did a great job. I loved the kids they picked to play the kids and even the adults (although I have concerns about Oprah as Mrs. Which, which (HA!) I'll get into later). I think, also, that they did a decent job with the themes of self-worth, with Meg feeling like she's not special and growing into her confidence through the story.

However, I think that's the only theme they did well, and sacrificed other themes to do it.

A Wrinkle in Time is a beautiful, complex book, and I understand that in filmmaking things need to be cut. However, I disliked immensely the things that were cut, and what they were replaced with.

The biggest of these was the scene on Ixchel, with Aunt Beast.

In the book, Meg rescues her father on Camazotz but almost is taken over by IT, so her father tessers her and Calvin away with him to Ixchel. There, Meg (who doesn't tesser well) is weak and needs healing, and she's furious with her father for leaving her brother Charles Wallace behind. Here, Meg receives love and nurturing, and she learns to forgive her father. She also learns that she is the only one who can potentially save Charles Wallace, and that the power to do so lies in her love for her brother. Meg is the only one who knows Charles Wallace well, since Calvin just met him and her father left when he was just a baby.

This scene is pivotal in Meg's development, because it's here that she realizes that she is a part of this, a vital, important part. The only person who can save her brother is her, which makes her special. She is worthy of love because of who she is, but as I read it, she is powerful because of the love she has for her family. This echoes her ability to find her father (again, she's the connection because of her love), and gives her the confidence and the understanding she needs to face IT, rid Camazotz of darkness, and save Charles Wallace.

And the whole scene was cut for time. But we got a long scene of running in a freaking forest, instead, so that's fine, too, I guess.

(Pacing was weird. Some scenes, like flying around or running on Camazotz, lasted a long time, but Charles Wallace is possessed in the blink of an eye, without a fight. It felt strange.)

On a related note, I didn't like how they handled Camazotz. In the book, Camazotz is a planet overtaken by darkness, not the darkness itself like in the movie. Also, the effect of that darkness on the planet (in the book) is that the planet has every citizen literally marching to ITs beat. There's a rhythm that forces people to think and act along to it. IT forces everyone to be exactly alike, thinking the same, and doing the same.

This doesn't happen in the movie, and I'm sorry for it. Camazotz becomes a puzzle box of traps and challenges, but not a planet where everyone is forced to be the same. A major theme of A Wrinkle in Time is the idea that everyone is important, that differences, even flaws, are powerful, and that the ability to love gives someone power. Camazotz is dark because it erases those differences, and makes it so no one is important, no one is unique. And that whole idea was gone in the movie.

 

My biggest issue with the movie is that there is power in the book, real power that lingers with you long after you finish reading, and the movie cut out so much of the scenes and symbols that give the story its power to focus on only one theme: people deserve to be loved. Yes, and it's true, and it's there, and it's good, but in focusing only on that theme, it stripped away the richness of the story, that everyone's different and that's good and the ability to love others gives you real power to fight the darkness. I left the theater reminded of how good the book is and wanting to read it again. I don't care about watching the movie again.

Other things I didn't care for in the movie:

- That weird pacing I mentioned earlier.
- The Happy Medium wasn't all that happy (though I kind of liked the portrayal, shouldn't the Happy Medium, well, kind of deserve the title?)
- Mrs. Whatsit was relegated to comic relief, and they got her character all wrong. She isn't dismissive of Meg; in fact, she's the one who seems to see the most potential in her.
- Oprah's Mrs. Which was also wrong. She's the one who's supposed to be most dismissive of Meg, focusing instead on Charles Wallace's potential. But noooo, I guess Oprah can't possibly play a part where she's not the center of all that is inspiring.
- Meg's father never called her "Megaparsec." Small thing, but it bugged me for some reason.