A Wrinkle in Time

Amazon.com

Director John Kent Harrison's imaginative film adaptation of Madeleine L'Engle's 1963 A Wrinkle in Time may not be able to fully satisfy the immense expectations of those decidedly loyal to L'Engle's book, yet delivers a family thriller impressive enough to stand on its own merits. Katie Stuart plays Meg Murry, the introverted, intelligent oldest child of Dr. Jack Murry, an astrophysicist who has suddenly disappeared without a trace. As Meg struggles with her father's absence and her own coming-of-age awkwardness, she tightens her bond with Charles Wallace (David Dorfman), her brilliant, eccentric 6-year-old brother. When a trio of celestial beings summons them to find their father, the children are joined by neighbor Calvin O'Keefe (Gregory Smith) to embark on a dangerous journey of time travel. They "tesseract" onto the planet Camazotz where Dr. Murry is being held prisoner by an evil force. The film retains the essence of the novel, and deftly employs its 128-minute running time to build viewer affinity for the heroic children. The special effects will not disappoint, though the climatic last battle should have held closer to the book. Stuart is exemplary as the understated and deeply reflective Meg, while Dorfman dazzles as conflicted Charles Wallace. (Ages 8 and older) --Lynn Gibson

Description

Madeleine L'Engle's best-selling and beloved Newbery Award-winning novel bursts to life in a spectacular family film that TV Guide calls "a charming and imaginative film." When astrophysicist Dr. Jack Murry disappears without a trace, his children, Meg and Charles Wallace, and neighbor Calvin O'Keefe embark on a cosmic quest to find him. Guided by Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, the children travel to a distant planet and encounter a society controlled by an evil force. They must trust themselves and one another if they are to rescue Dr. Murry and return home safely. Enjoy the nonstop excitement and adventure of A WRINKLE IN TIME, starring Academy Award(R)-nominated actress Alfre Woodard (1984 Best Supporting Actress, CROSS CREEK) and teen idol Gregory Smith from TV's EVERWOOD. It's an amazing journey your family will want to take over and over again.

Customer Reviews:

Nicely done adaptation of the classic.......2007-08-28

I approached this with some misgivings, after having heard Ms. L'Engle in person during the 80s say that she had the book under option to a film company, but they wanted to make significant changes, including calling Charles Wallace "Chuch". She retained creative control and the film company wouldn't budge, so she let that option lapse.

Fortunately, this version is faithful to the book, although some detail changes are made to make the story easier for kids to identify with (for example, Mom drives a minivan). The acting is uniformly good and I really enjoy the wonderous feel of the score. It was interesting to see how the filmmaker's conception of Mre. Whatsis, Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and the details of Camazotz differed from what my imagination created when reading the book.

Great Movie.......2007-05-13

My children love this movie and so do I. It is a great family movie. I think it is great for children as young as 5. When we are taking several of my daughters friends anywhere we always bring this movie along. The girls never want to get out of my SUV. We rented it from Blockbuster before buying it, but we had to have it.

Mysticmoods' Review.......2007-03-22

I enjoyed this movie immensely. A great movie for the family.Plot was good & the actors fit their roles perfectly.I highly reccomend it.

Passable.......2007-03-06

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.

Not the Book, but Worth seeing.......2006-05-05

This DVD includes a never-before-seen interview with author of the book Madeleine L'Engle and is worth the entire cost of the DVD for this reason alone.

The film is particularly worthwhile for anyone who has not had the pleasure of reading the book, which is a masterpiece.

The film is thought-provoking and beautifully filmed--set design and editing are quite good and creatively accomplished by director, editor and screenwriter. Someday there may be another version, but this is what we have now and I therefore recommend it without qualms.

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