Director Ava DuVernay could not have been a better choice to bring Madeleine L’Engle’s young adult novel A Wrinkle in Time to the screen. It may have taken a half a century, but for fans of the book (and there are millions), it is worth the wait to witness a film that reflects the wild and vast imagination of L’Engle.
A Wrinkle in Time is out now on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download formats and tells an out-of-this-world story of a young girl who will do anything to find her father and the adventure that effort takes her own that breaks down everything we have ever known about time and space.
When it came to bringing the characters of the iconic book to life, DuVernay hit it out of the park and produced one of the most diverse and talented trios that have come together in 2018. Oprah Winfrey is Mrs. Which, Reese Witherspoon plays Mrs. Whatsit, Mindy Kailing (currently in theaters with Ocean’s 8) is Mrs. Who. Those three are known as the three celestial guides that will help an eight-grader named Meg Murry (Storm Reid) as she embarks on this adventure to find her dad (Chris Pine), who is a revered physicist who vanished from the earth just over four years ago. Meg has help in the form of her brother Charles (Deric McCabe) and her classmate Calvin (Levi Miller).
Where A Wrinkle in Time works is magic best as it is the rare film that connects generations. It is a film that is truly for the whole family, from eight to eighty. Rich with positive messages that should be inspiring for everyone in the clan, but especially young women, it explores pushing one’s self-confidence to new heights, the importance of inclusion and of course with a visionary landscape like DuVernay has crafted… pushing imagination to new heights. The visual effects and imagery in the film is stunning and yeah, it probably should be seen on the largest screens around, but since it is out now on home video and so many of us have enormous televisions in our homes, the vastness of DuVernay’s vision is not lost in its journey to home video.
The special effects are stunning and although the story (on screen) meanders a bit and takes a little too long to reach its destination, the film is still a must-see for the entire family because of those messages, themes and approachability that is so rare in Hollywood fare today.
In today’s world, it may be hard for certain youngsters to find their way and embrace their inner hero or heroine. After witnessing A Wrinkle in Time—and hopefully then going to the source material—young people can feel empowered to find that the center of the world begins and ends within oneself.
A Wrinkle in Time bonus features put the spotlight on the top-notch cast and the supremely talented filmmaker behind the movie magic. It also includes not one, but two music videos for songs from the film, including I Believe by DJ Khaled and Demi Lovato.
A Journey Through Time is a terrific featurette that finds the all-star cast and crew singing like a chorus the praises of this entire production. Through some behind-the-scenes footage, accompanied by insight by our stars, the viewer gets an inside look that answers the question, “How did they do that?!” It also addresses some of the slight changes made to the book to “update” it for modern audiences. Those are some fascinating changes and one can see why they were made and smartly so. At just over 30 minutes, it is chock full of information and insight, but is also as entertaining as it is enlightening. It has been a long journey for the book to make it to the movie format, but the sense that we get from this particular featurette is that with the advances in movie technology and its integration with top-tier storytelling, this was a movie that needed to take its time to make it to the public and over the course of a half century since the book was released, what was able to be captured by filmmakers—circa 2018—finally caught up to the imagination of an author from 50 years ago.
There is a slew of deleted scenes, that for fans of the book and the movie itself, are interesting. But, one can also see why they were deleted in the first place. The gag reel, or bloopers, is a joy to witness because this is a film that is somewhat serious in tone, and it is nice to see the stars and filmmakers cracking each other up and keeping it loose on the set.
The audio commentary is stunning in so many ways. Never have we heard such a packed room of creative types adding insights to a film while watching it. Director DuVernay, First Assistant Director Michael Moore, Visual Effects Supervisor Richard McBride, Screenwriter Jennifer Lee, Producer Jim Whitaker, Film Editor Spencer Averick, and Production Designer Naomi Shohan all chime in at various points on the commentary track, adding stunning insight exponentially to a visually stunning film.
Film Grade: B
Bonus Features: B