I recently read A Wrinkle in Time because I was kinda hyped up for the movie. With it being a book turned movie, I wanted to see how the book to screen adaptation went….and quite frankly, I am impressed.

While the movie was not a perfect replica of the book, it came pretty damn close. There are only a some minor and one big change (that honestly wasn’t that big of a deal). Before I go into detail, I want to warn the people who have not read or seen the movie — the rest of this post will contain spoilers, so if you don’t want the story to be ruined for you please read this after you have read or watched the movie!

The movie starts with a bit of a prologue where we are introduced to Mr. Murphy (Daddy Chris Pines), Meg ( Lyric Wilson ) and Mrs. Murphy ( Gugu Mbatha-Raw ), and we are introduced from the beginning that Mr. & Mrs. Murphy are big science wiz and are going to adopt a baby, Charles Wallace ( Deric McCabe ).

Then older Meg (Storm Reid) is introduce and the movie follows the book pretty well. Only minor change is that the twins, Sandy and Dennys, don’t exist and Meg’s bully has a name: Veronica (Rowan Blanchard). We are able to see Meg struggle at school and be teased because she is still not over her dad’s disappearance.  Charles Wallace is also in school, and is too smart for his age just like in the book.

The only other small difference in the first half of the movie is that Mrs. Whatisit is introduced later by Charles Wallace rather than on the famous, “Dark and stormy night.” Which is totally fine, as it still made the plot move forward.

The movie is true to character’s personalities, especially the three kids. However, unlike the book, Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin end up in Camozotz because of Meg’s refusal to return to Earth without her dad. The Mrs’ tesser is changed in course, and the kids are in Camozotz against their will. Unable to tesser them out the Mrs give just Meg their gifts and lets them go on the mission to rescue Mr. Murphy.

The movie added more to book in world building and the oddness of Camozotz. Also it was more dramatized which is fair since movies are different than books. Unlike the first half of the movie, which was very faithful to the book, in the second half we begin to see bigger changes.

For starters, we don’t see the little boy bouncing the ball in the wrong rhythm (which is a minor thing sure). Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin meet Mr. Red in a beach instead of the Central Intelligence straight away. So we don’t see the forceful uniformity the center creates. At the beach Charles Wallace eats his sand sandwich and is quickly taken over by the IT…rather than fighting it and then letting himself get taken over due to his pride.

Once Charles Wallace becomes part of IT we are officially in the weird space of the Central Intelligence where he lets Meg find Mr. Murphy (rather than fighting her). Once Mr. Murphy is free, Charles Wallace starts taking them to The Brain. However, instead of meeting The Brain and having to unfollow the rhythm of the world…Calvin and Meg get taken over pretty quickly and Mr. Murphy tries to tesser Meg and Calvin away.

BUT, instead of tessering to the planet of Ixchel where Meg has to heal due to touching The Black Thing…Meg stays behind to save Charles Wallace. While this is kinda a big plot change, it did not hurt the film which is fair — in Ixchel Meg learns how to save her brother and is sent back to be a warrior by the Mrs.

I understand that going to Ixchel would have just made the film longer and not all too necessary, because while in the room with The Brain — Meg thinks of her faults and all the love in her, and figures out how to save Charles Wallace.

Rather than a screaming match like in the book, the movie gets a bit brutal and Charles Wallace uses the powers of IT to beat up his sister into giving in.

But obviously, Meg’s love for Charles Wallace and his love to his sister beats the darkness and they are able to get away and bring Mr. Murphy home.

YAY HAPPINESS.

Overall, I am very pleased with the movie. The special effects and CGI were so beautiful too. I applaud the cast and crew of A Wrinkle in Time, and all the artists who worked on the film. Acting wise…I wasn’t very impressed with Storm Reid, compared to her co-stars Levi Miller and Deric McCabe, who were fantastic for child actors. Reid had her good and bad scenes, but I see a lot of room for growth and improvement as an actor. (but what do I know haha)

If A Wrinkle in Time was part of your childhood I think you won’t be disappointed with the movie adaptation. Go watch it!!