Okay, okay,\u00a0A Wrinkle in Time<\/em>\u00a0does have excellent special effects, and also sound, if you see it in the right theatre.\u00a0 (I recommend El Capitan to people in Southern California.)\u00a0 But that is<\/em> it<\/em>!\u00a0 The story is beyond stupid and the performances of the three famous women in it are just dreadful.<\/p>\n And I was just as confused seeing this film<\/em> version of A Wrinkle in Time<\/em> as I was back then!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think anything could be worse than the book, but I have to hand it to Disney\u2014they accomplished that dubious feat with this beyond-inane movie.<\/p>\n Before I get off the topic of the inordinately stupid story, here\u2019s my theory on it, now that I\u2019ve done a lot of research on the topic.\u00a0 The author, Madeleine L’Engle, (who\u2019s now deceased,) has admitted that all she wanted to do was write a successful science fiction book.\u00a0 This one was turned down by dozens of agents and publishers, and it should have stayed that way, if you ask me, (which you are<\/em> by reading this review!)\u00a0 When I noticed what year it was written, this hit me\u2014I feel like she was trying to\u00a0sort-of copy Robert Heinlein\u2019s seminal 1961 novel,\u00a0Stranger in<\/em> a Strange Land<\/em>,\u00a0on some levels.<\/p>\n I\u00a0do<\/em>\u00a0admire director Ava Duverney, (and she\u2019s a fellow UCLA girl, a school that has been so influential in my own life, as well,) but this work just does not live up to her past triumphs.\u00a0 I have a feeling that someone else was pulling her strings on this one.\u00a0 (*Cough*Oprah*cough*.)\u00a0 It\u2019s shocking to me that the director who brought us the serious, informative, worthwhile documentary\u00a013th<\/em>\u00a0then moved down to this garbage!<\/p>\n I tried to find pix that showed how much bigger Oprah Winfrey’s character is than the rest of the characters, but this was the closest I could come to it. I guess she didn’t want to keep reading that her image on screen is as gigantic as her ego!!!<\/p><\/div>\n Before I discuss\u00a0my<\/em>\u00a0many complaints with\u00a0A Wrinkle in Time<\/em>, let me tell you that\u00a0Facebook peeps are practically writing this review for me!!!\u00a0 Here are just a tiny smattering of the negative mini-reviews I\u2019ve been seeing on there:\u00a0\u00a0Someone wrote, \u201cHave never read the book.\u00a0 Saw the movie this weekend.\u00a0 Underwhelmed would be an understatement.\u00a0 Oprah looked like a demented drag queen–RuPaul gone to pot.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Another wrote, \u201cHopefully this will mean she won\u2019t run for president.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0And yet another said of Oprah, \u00a0\u201cAfter I saw her scenes, I almost gagged.\u00a0 That was pure ego on her part: there is no way a figure that well known as a (supposedly) \u2018real\u2019 person would not ruin every scene she was in.\u00a0 She looked ridiculous and<\/em> broke any suspension of disbelief that an audience might have been able to generate.\u00a0 From what I saw of it, the cinematography (for all the money spent) looked rather sub-par, very TV special.\u201d\u00a0 And all that was on just\u00a0one<\/em>\u00a0thread!!!<\/p>\n I agree with all of that, and have to add to it.\u00a0 For decades now, Oprah Winfrey has employed a fake English accent, ala Madonna, which is super-annoying.\u00a0 It may have actually worked in this film since she\u2019s supposed to be a character<\/em>, rather than herself<\/em>.\u00a0 But she was never not<\/em> herself in it.\u00a0 And I have a sneaking suspicion that she had it put into her contract that she would\u00a0be the physically biggest person in it, which made everything about her even more unbelievable.<\/p>\n And\u00a0how many nose jobs has Oprah had?!\u00a0 Maybe she should\u2019ve also had a moustache-ectomy while she was at it.\u00a0 Those hairs really show up on the big screen.<\/p>\n And while we\u2019re on it, the other two \u201cwitches,\u201d (or whatever the heck they were supposed to be,) were terribly miscast, as well.\u00a0 I usually like Reese Witherspoon, but she was also too much herself in this one.\u00a0 No one wants to see a valley girl<\/em> as an ethereal being<\/em>.\u00a0 It just doesn\u2019t work; she seems like she was doing a\u00a0Saturday Night Live<\/em>\u00a0skit the entire time.\u00a0 And I\u2019ve never been a fan of Mindy Kaling, so this was just another sub-par performance on her part.\u00a0 I don\u2019t understand her ever<\/em> getting acting jobs.\u00a0 At least in this one, all she had to do was spew quotes from other people.<\/p>\n These three \u201cspirits\u201d should have been played by much better, lesser-known actresses; then maybe the whole shebang would have been more effective.\u00a0 But when all you see in a story that demands you suspend belief is three famous women being themselves, it makes it that much worse.<\/p>\n The sister, the brother, and whatever the heck Reese Witherspoon is.<\/p><\/div>\n Then there are all the other holes in it. There are too many to go into in this space, so I explain the rest in the video portion of this review. (Remember, you can see it here: www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Hkbdlh4_0s8<\/a>.)<\/p>\n But one really annoying aspect of this film version of A Wrinkle in Time<\/em> is that they made the kids bi-racial. (I think that\u2019s what was going on, anyway; I still don\u2019t understand where the little boy came from because he was just there all of a sudden!) Why does everybody have to be bi-racial nowadays? Enough already! I was probably the earliest person I knew who had a boyfriend who\u2019s black, and if I wanted kids, I would have loved to have a gorgeous bi-racial child myself. But more than that, I would have loved for our relationship to be universally accepted, which it definitely was not<\/em>, even in liberal Los Angeles. So I\u2019m thrilled that it\u2019s that way for most mixed couples these days. I just feel that not every entertainment has to portray that!!! Even though the book<\/em> of this story did not specify ethnicity, it was written in 1962, for goodness sake, so you know that the family was meant to be all white! How weird, and possibly offensive, would it be to do a movie of A Raisin in the Sun<\/em> with the main characters being portrayed as Asian and white??? I\u2019m just saying.<\/p>\n Another thing I didn\u2019t like is that the film just starts all of a sudden, out of nowhere. I literally thought the beginning was some kind of ad. Like maybe for NASA because I saw that logo in there. I wanted to rewind and start it again, like with a DVR. A major film like this could have used some cool upfront credits!<\/p>\n The little kid in the movie who looks just like Ronnie Hazel, Jr. did back in the day!<\/p><\/div>\n And then there\u2019s the derivative of Lost<\/em> aspect to it. Just about every \u201csupernatural\u201d scene and effect looked like it was plucked right out of that TV show! That being said, the fabulous visual effects and excellent sound are the only<\/em> reasons to see this film, so at least those are good.<\/p>\n Speaking of good, the little kid is probably the best one in the film. And it doesn\u2019t hurt that he looks just like Ronnie Hazel, Jr. at that age. To bring this review full-circle, Ronnie\u2019s my pal with whom I first discovered this book to begin with, when he was eleven. So, seeing his doppelg\u00e4nger in it was sort-of surreal to me. And I liked<\/em> it. (But too bad the kid is King Obo in real life! He made an appearance before the opening night screening, and could not have been more obnoxious if he tried! So that sort-of ruined his performance for me. But I do<\/em> have to acknowledge that he\u2019s a natural little actor.) And Levi Miller, the guy who plays the sister\u2019s teen-age suitor, is good, as well. And adorable. So there\u2019s that.<\/p>\n Levi Miller.<\/p><\/div>\n But still not reason enough to waste time and money on this one. Just wait till it comes on TV, (which should be soon, if everyone feels as I<\/em> do,) and use it to fall asleep to.<\/p>\n Before you do that, though, please make sure to watch my whole video<\/em> review of A Wrinkle in Time<\/em> because I say things that are more fun received verbally <\/em>than written<\/em>. Here\u2019s that link again, just in case you missed it the previous two times! It\u2019s like my own little wrinkle in time!: www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Hkbdlh4_0s8<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A WRINKLE IN TIME REVIEW This is one of the dumbest, most waste-of-time movies I\u2019ve ever seen!!!\u00a0 On every level! I make many of the points against it in my new YouTube video, which you can watch here: www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Hkbdlh4_0s8. (But then I suggest you also read this written review because they\u2019re basically companion pieces.) Okay,<\/p>\n![\"Follett_IMAGE_Wrinkle-in-Time_JS\"](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Follett_IMAGE_Wrinkle-in-Time_JS-e1521511701403-267x300.jpg\")
<\/a>So, let\u2019s go in as close to an order as I can, beginning with the awful (yes, I\u2019m the only one brave enough to say it) book from 1962.\u00a0 Thank goodness no teacher ever made me read it when I was little because I would have been even more confused about life than I already am.\u00a0 But, when my little best friend, Ronnie Hazel, Jr. stayed with Mr. X and me about a decade ago when he was a tween,\u00a0he<\/em>\u00a0had to read it for school.\u00a0 So, of course, I was here for him, as always with his schoolwork.\u00a0 (I even had Flat Stanley as a guest on my TV show back then!)\u00a0 But when he asked me questions about \u201ctesseract,\u201d he lost me.<\/p>\n![\"I](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/wrinkle-in-time-reese-oprah-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"The](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/6389-300x180.jpg\")
<\/a>![\"The](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Screen-Shot-2018-03-19-at-7.05.52-PM1-300x264.png\")
<\/a>![\"Levi](\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/maxresdefault-e1521511256660-300x212.jpg\")
<\/a>