Translating a childhood written classic to the screen, esp. with an eye to contemporary cinematic expectations (or assumed expectations) is tricky. After this trailer for Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, I still have no idea if they are going to pull it off.
What is clear looking at the comments (trust me, you probably don’t want to) is that Haters Gonna Hate (OMG! Racial diversity in the cast! My childhood is ruined!) and Disney Skeptics Gonna Skep (OMG! Disney! It must be evil!).
The only thing I can say is that they have the ball-bouncing sequence, and I’m willing to go see the film just for that alone.
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About my reaction…I want to see this, though!
I'm looking forward to it. (1) Diverse cast is great mix of well-known and new names/faces (2) I don't care that it's Disney (3) I love the book.
It's been so long since I read this series, I can't remember a thing!
I haven't read these books since I was a tween. I don't remember much except that I loved them enough to read them several times. It was a loooong time ago. I really want to see this film. I think I will read the books again.
If the trailer is like the film the fx are going to be fun.
The books hold up well IMO, though it's clear they were written in the 60s or so. From what I can tell in the trailer sans audio, it might be the first three books, since it looks like there's extended sequences with Whatsits etc.
ETA: They are YA, but IMO perfectly readable for all ages.
I agree with Cindy Brown; they may be YA, but I read Wrinkle outloud to my kids and enjoyed it as much as I did when I read it as a tween. What amazes me is most of the stuff that Madeleine L'Engle wrote about space travel as science fiction later became science in fact.
Read the comments, highly amused. We're fine with alien centaurs and embodied exploding stars as long as they're portrayed by white people? What?
Minor detail: I like the Maximillian Schell look they put on Chris Pine.
+Bill Garrett Yeah, I know. Zany, where not infuriating.
Did Madeleine L'Engle describe anyone human (or humanish) in AWiT as something particularly non-white? No. Was anyone's whiteness a key part of their character? Um … not so much, as I recall.
Do I think Madeleine L'Engle would have any objection? Certainly not to that.
I don't care what color the cast is as long as they can act. A good actor can sell any role. I'm so tired of scrolling through my cable listings and coming across a really kick-butt title only to be disappointed when I read further to find out the leading man is Steven Segal.
There's a LOT of description in the book of how much Meg hates her over-curly frizzy hair (as well as her height and her glasses).
That said, Charles was frequently described with blue eyes (particularly when It takes over and the pupils nearly go away). But I think that hardly matters.
+Cindy Brown I'm not suggesting that physical description was not a big part of the book or the characters, but none that requires a particular race (or even the specific colors / description elements given, so long as something analogous can be chosen).
Oh, I agree. I was kinda remarking on how parts of the description fit perfectly anyway.