A Wrinkle In Time
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.50 You Save: $17.49 (87%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.48 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of A Wrinkle In Time
Movie Review: Passable
Summary: 3 Stars
With all the books that have recently been made into fantastic movies (Harry Potter; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Lord of the Rings...), I was very disappointed that Disney did not give this movie the budget and attention it deserved.
There were plenty of minor changes from the book. The parents names have changed. There's some focus on Charles Wallace not liking pineapple, that didn't appear in the book. Meg is a bit of a tomboy. It's set in modern times, so you see the internet being used. All these things are forgivable; a movie interpretation will never be exactly the same as a book. However, this movie seemed to lose much of the essense of the story being told.
I thought the three children did an okay job for the roles they were given. That said, they weren't given much to work with. None of the characters are developed; I don't think the audience would feel attached to any of them, if they didn't already know them from the books.
The interpretation of the three ladies was different from the book, although not altogether bad. I enjoyed Mrs. Who's character the most. In the book, Mrs. Which was stern but encouraging; in the movie, she begins by casting the children aside. Her character became more supportive as the movie continued, at least. Mrs. Whatsit was a bit sillier than I had imagined her, and the Happy Medium was very silly and not appealing to me. For me, the silliness detracted from the intensity of the story.
The special effects were pretty terrible--and this from Disney? The tessering scenes were okay--I'm not really sure how one would visualize tessering, anyhow--but they lasted several minutes longer than they needed to. Weak special effects just shouldn't be dragged out. Mrs. Whatsit's horse-like creature was laughable. And the purpose of the big brain in the final scenes just wasn't clear. In the book, there is a large brain that is understood to be the center of control of Camazotz. In the movie, you really only see the man with the red eyes, with no explanation that there is a power greater than he at work, so the giant brain coming out at the end just seemed strange. And the cuts between scenes were a bit annoying, too. This was originally made for TV, so some of the scene transitions were meant to incorporate a commerical break. However, the attempt at creating suspense during some of these transitions came off as overdone and silly.
Finally, the music was mediocre, and at times distracting. During "suspenseful" scenes, I found myself hearing the music and thinking about how cheesy it was. Think about the fantastic movies you've seen, and the wonderful scores associated with them. This score was not one of those.
Die-hard fans who want to own everything Wrinkle will want to own this movie as well. It's not terrible. However, it's not wonderful, either. It's fairly harmless, so some children may enjoy it, if they can make sense of it, with so much of the theme being glossed over. You should definitely make sure you introduce the children to the book, as well, to cover what the movie didn't.
Movie Review: Deserves A Better Treatment
Summary: 3 Stars
Before there was Harry Potter and Lemony Snickett, there was Meg, Calvin, and little Charles Wallace. "A Wrinkle In Time" was the beginning of one of the best fantasies for older children and, yes, even adults. This film based on the first book in the fantasy is okay, but I feel as if the entire series was cheated when compared to such juggernauts as Potter and Lemony. I enjoy the Potter films and books as much as anyone, but I think that more attention should have been paid to "A Wrinkle In Time." Not only was it the first "big" book that I ever read, it was also the first fantasy that I had ever read. I fell in love with it immediately and it encouraged me to read even more books. A couple of years ago, at the age of twenty-six, I read "Wrinkle" again, because I loved it so much.
Alfre Woodard is great as Ms. Whatsit, and Who and Which are also excellent. The little boy chosen to play Charles Wallace was fantastic, he looked really creepy when It took over him. The rest of the cast is superb as well, but that isn't where my complaint lies.
My complaint is with the production. When the children travel throught the tesseract, fly on Ms. Whatsit, meet the Happy Medium, etc., the production looks like something off of Sci-Fi channel. Also, something is lost in the translation to the screen, and the story comes off slow, plodding, and uninteresting at times. Money is always an issue with films of this sort, but you'd think that Disney would have plunked down a little more dough on this picture. Unfortunately, that isn't the case. Instead, the actors are forced to drudge along through the story in an attempt to make the best of what they've been given.
Hopefully someone will come along and give this brilliant story the proper treatment it deserves. It triggered the imaginations of many generations, and it should be given the same care and respect as Potter, Snickett, and all of the others that I'm sure will come along.
Three stars go to the actors in this film. They do a brilliant job given the fact that they had so little to work with. I recommend this one with reservations. It's fun to finally see some great childhood heroes on the screen, but I just wish they would have been treated better. Read the book first, then watch this movie.
Movie Review: Decent but not outstanding adaptation of a stellar book
Summary: 3 Stars
I saw this film with deep apprehension, having heard very ominous rumors. I came out thinking, well, that wasn't very bad, but it wasn't very good, either, was it?
The three young actors are excellent, particularly Meg. The three ladies are not at all faithful to L'Engle's conception, but on the whole entertaining (especially Woodard) and dramatically effective (especially Nelligan). The other adults are, frankly, boring, except the Happy Medium, who's unwatchable. Nice smirky presence from the Man with Red Eyes, though.
Judging from the deleted scenes included on the DVD, the editing process that shortened the film by a full hour actually improved the screenplay. By cutting the earlier sequences focusing on Dr. Murray's experiments, the film was brought much closer to L'Engle's original plot structure and effectively restricts its point of view to that of the child protagonists. While largely well staged and shot, the extraneous material is mostly unnecessary filler (and removing the already-dated "Star Trek" and "The Matrix" references was a wise move).
The effects are disappointingly low-budget; much of what we see even on TV is better produced than this, let alone on the big screen. The production design of Camazotz is creepy, but doesn't even attempt to convey the deliberate, oppressive banality of L'Engle's description. Aunt Beast and her race are, well, embarassing, as is the flying centaur. The music is pretty, but unmemorable.
Until a really top-notch production of this book emerges, this will have to do. I'm not holding my breath, though. It would take a screenwriter and a director of absolute genius to distill L'Engle's tricky blend of coming-of-age drama, science fiction and cosmic philosophy into a play that doesn't condescend to either its audience or its content. Harrison's version is earnest, but teeters perilously close to committing both errors.
And that flying centaur really is embarassing.
Movie Review: Decent, but not quite capturing the book
Summary: 3 Stars
Overall, I'd say it's worth watching. I bought it used, and am glad I did because now I own it and didn't have to pay the full price for it.
The book was, of course, much better, and that may be why I was slightly disappointed. The visual effects were kind of... well... they kind of sucked. The flying horse thing was ridiculous and I think it was the worst part of the film.
The Happy Medium was pretty bad too. I did like the three Mrs. W's, they did a surprisingly good job. Meg and Calivin did awesome as well. Charles Wallace, however, was kind of creepy at times and for the most part came off as a weird kid, even around his family. In the book, he seemed more cute and just quiet, not at all weird.
Instead of just skipping over some details like most movies based on books do, they also added things that didn't belong. I really wanted to see them make the stop on the 2-dimensonal planet, and was disappointed t osee that part missing.
The Tesseract could have been better, too. They explained it well in the movie, but I had imagined it a lot different. The way they showed it in the movie just looked like someone was on shrooms or drugs. The one where they were going through "IT" was kind of cool though.
Still, it was worth watching and I'd still recommend it, if at least for the sake of having a visual of the book.
Movie Review: A decent stand alone
Summary: 3 Stars
I was a HUGE fan of the novel as a child, and was very excited when I discovered that they made a movie version of it. I quickly ordered the DVD and even had it rushed to me. I watched it as soon as I got the DVD, but I was a bit disappointed. Perhaps if I had not read the book, I would have thought the movie was better than it was, but that was not the case. It was tragic to see what they had done to Mrs. Who, my favorite character of the novel. In the novel she was constantly quoting people, and in various languages, but in the movie was an afterthought and just seemed odd. The Happy Medium seemed like a characture of a homosexual male and not the ambiguous being that it was in the novel. I felt that they could have done a great deal more with the over 2 hours they had in the movie. I could list a million more things that they should have done better, but that would be pointless. If you have not read the books and simply want a safe for families adventure story, then this is a good choice. However, if you adored the book like I did, tread lightly as you will most surely be disappointed with what they did.