Last Thursday marked the release of Disney’s latest movie “A Wrinkle in Time.” The sci-fi fantasy is based on the 1962 novel by L’Engle, adapted by Ava DuVernay.
The movie is not the first time that someone has tried to bring the novel to the screen. It was made into a TV film in the early 2000s. L’Engle was not a fan of the production and claimed that she “expected it to be bad, and it is.” Unfortunately, she is no longer around to comment on whether the 2018 movie succeeded where the 2003 movie failed.
The first obvious difference is that the budget for the recent release was significantly higher. Some of the visuals are astonishing and the advance in technology enabled the team to create a convincing and breathtaking inter-dimensional fantasy world. The novel challenges the boundaries of fantasy and science and the aesthetics of the movie mirror this creatively.
That being said, the story had several plot holes and jumped between worlds too quickly to feel invested in the adventure. Storm Reid did a wonderful job portraying the protagonist Meg Murray, but her character at times felt underdeveloped. What’s more, the complex themes of the novel did not transfer well into the movie, perhaps because of the limited length time.
Nonetheless, the movie does have its merits and will certainly charm a younger audience.
