A Wrinkle in Time

Question: Why didn't Mrs Whatsit turn into a winged centaur as she did in the book? What made them alter the magic creature into a living leaf?

dizzyd

Answer: Like any other such change from the source material, it's just artistic license.

wizard_of_gore

Answer: The biggest critical complaint about this film is that director Ava DuVernay and her screenwriters essentially gutted Madeleine L'Engle's award-winning children's book and turned it into nothing more than Disneyesque eye candy, discarding many important elements of L'Engle's story and arbitrarily refitting it with lightweight (and boring) motivational platitudes. In other words, DuVernay made the movie her soapbox for "social messaging" and tossed out much of the wondrous (and even miraculous) detail that made L'Engle's original book a huge success. Consequently, this movie was a colossal financial failure.

Charles Austin Miller

Interestingly, Disney had adapted this story for the screen before (in 2004), and the earlier version did include the flying centaur (albeit a bad CGI rendering). Unfortunately, the 2004 version was also a box-office failure for Disney, and for the same reason as the 2018 remake: Disney removed the magical and spiritual qualities that gave L'Engle's original story its depth.

Charles Austin Miller

Disney's previous adaptation was released in 2003 as a TV movie, so it wasn't a "box-office failure", it was just a terrible movie.

Cody Fairless-Lee

Question: I get that Meg is in trouble for hitting Veronica in the face with a basketball, but why isn't Veronica in trouble for leaving a mean note on Meg's locker and calling her brother crazy?

Cody Fairless-Lee

Answer: Could be a matter of severity. Hitting someone in the face with a basketball could result in someone being permanently injured or disfigured, possibly even blinded. Leaving mean notes and calling someone crazy is far less serious and might not warrant being punished other than a mild reprimand.

raywest

Question: Why was Charles Wallace being sent to the office? For calling out on the two teachers or for causing Meg to hurt Veronica? Also, why aren't the two teachers in trouble for making fun of the Murry family?

Cody Fairless-Lee

Answer: We are never told why Charles Wallace was sent to the office. Perhaps the principal wanted to hear his side of the story seeing as he saw what happened. He may have also told the principal what the teachers said as well.

Answer: Because the movie isn't about Calvin, but Meg and her family. Seeing Calvin stand up to his father would be going off on a tangent. As for the reason for the abuse, who can say? Some people are just jerks.

Brian Katcher

Answer: Just like in the book, the children travelled in time as well as space. From the mother's perspective, they were only gone for a short while.

Brian Katcher

Question: When Meg returns with her father, did she still have to write apology letters to Principal Jenkins and Veronica?

Cody Fairless-Lee

Answer: With Meg's father returning after four years, her mother probably had other things on her mind than Meg's punishment. But with all Meg had learned about kindness and love, she might have decided to write the letters anyway.

Brian Katcher

Question: Why did Meg's mother want her to write an apology letter to Veronica after she left a mean note on her locker and call Charles Wallace crazy? It sounds like she's teaching her daughter that sticking up for herself and her family is wrong.

Cody Fairless-Lee

Answer: Meg's mother is actually teaching her to show compassion and to understand that there is reason behind Veronica's bullying. She suffers from extreme low self-esteem, and has developed an eating disorder as a result. She bullies others to validate herself. Just because Veronica is a bully is no excuse for Meg to retaliate in the way she did.

raywest

Question: Do both Meg and Charles Wallace go to the same school? I'm asking because I thought Meg is 13 and in middle school while Charles Wallace is 6 and they both get sent to Principal Jenkins' office.

Cody Fairless-Lee

Answer: Some schools can go from kindergarten all the way up to grade nine. My school was that way.

Answer: Maybe Meg hadn't hugged her mom in a really long time so the mom must be thinking that she is dreaming that Meg is hugging her.

Answer: No, but with Meg understanding Veronica's self-image issues and Veronica seeing that popular boy Calvin obviously thought highly of Meg, maybe they won't be so antagonistic to each other.

Brian Katcher

Continuity mistake: Meg starts the trip wearing a red flannel shirt over a blue cardigan over a gray T-shirt. Along the way she first drops the flannel shirt, then the cardigan (the color of which seemed to have gained saturation). She's not seen carrying them or any bag that might have held them. When she finally faces It, all the clothes are back on. Calvin's case is even more evident: he starts with a jacket over a red shirt, ends up with a just a now-gray T-shirt (matching Meg's) but is back with jacket and red shirt at the end.

More mistakes in A Wrinkle in Time

Dr. Alex Murry: What if we are here for a reason. What if we are part of something truly divine.

More quotes from A Wrinkle in Time

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