I really wanted to like this movie. I'm going to try to keep this as spoiler free as possible so bear with me.
First off, anyone that complains about changing the ethnicity of the lead character get over it. Storm Reid is servicable in this role and I can easily see her as Meg. Chris Pine dominates every scene that he's in, as does Gugu Mbatha Raw.
Here's where the problems start....
When I read this book, and it was written in the 1960s so I'll grant that some stuff just wasn't there back then, the Madeline L'engle was at least somewhat subtle with the message she was writing between the lines.
This movie isn't subtle. This movie takes it's message and beats you in the face with it over, and over again.
I get the fact that this is aimed at younger kids, but you really don't need to narrate everything that is happening, or should or will happen. I kept thinking that maybe there was a reason that the adults(not the parents) were phoning in their lines but there really wasn't. The costumes of the three Mrs. characters, when taken out of the previews just look silly. Meg is basically turned into an ersatz audience member where she's just led around being told what to do. I think that with a slightly better script, Ms. Reid would have really been allowed to shine here. She has some potential that isn't really tapped here. I hate to say, but I think that the directors picked her because she looked like she could be the child of the parents more than over her acting ability. That in itself is a real shame, because given the right role, Storm Reid could be fantastic.
Zach Galifianikis is completely wasted here. So is Oprah Winfrey, and Reese Whitherspoon. Mindy Kailing seemed like she was trying to outdo everyone, maybe because she's used to being in tv. I don't know. A lot of the acting just felt forced.
Green screen is used and abused in this film. The first world they go to is amazing, the second interesting, but the whole time I kept thinking that they were going to flash a hitpoint gauge on the screen or prompt me for a quicktime event. There's such a thing as too much CGI and this movie is a poster child for that. Maybe some more work to clean things up would have helped. Maybe not.
Had they stuck to the book more closely I think it would have been a much better film. The early 2000's had a TV movie that I found myself liking more and it was done for a fraction of the budget here.
First off, anyone that complains about changing the ethnicity of the lead character get over it. Storm Reid is servicable in this role and I can easily see her as Meg. Chris Pine dominates every scene that he's in, as does Gugu Mbatha Raw.
Here's where the problems start....
When I read this book, and it was written in the 1960s so I'll grant that some stuff just wasn't there back then, the Madeline L'engle was at least somewhat subtle with the message she was writing between the lines.
This movie isn't subtle. This movie takes it's message and beats you in the face with it over, and over again.
I get the fact that this is aimed at younger kids, but you really don't need to narrate everything that is happening, or should or will happen. I kept thinking that maybe there was a reason that the adults(not the parents) were phoning in their lines but there really wasn't. The costumes of the three Mrs. characters, when taken out of the previews just look silly. Meg is basically turned into an ersatz audience member where she's just led around being told what to do. I think that with a slightly better script, Ms. Reid would have really been allowed to shine here. She has some potential that isn't really tapped here. I hate to say, but I think that the directors picked her because she looked like she could be the child of the parents more than over her acting ability. That in itself is a real shame, because given the right role, Storm Reid could be fantastic.
Zach Galifianikis is completely wasted here. So is Oprah Winfrey, and Reese Whitherspoon. Mindy Kailing seemed like she was trying to outdo everyone, maybe because she's used to being in tv. I don't know. A lot of the acting just felt forced.
Green screen is used and abused in this film. The first world they go to is amazing, the second interesting, but the whole time I kept thinking that they were going to flash a hitpoint gauge on the screen or prompt me for a quicktime event. There's such a thing as too much CGI and this movie is a poster child for that. Maybe some more work to clean things up would have helped. Maybe not.
Had they stuck to the book more closely I think it would have been a much better film. The early 2000's had a TV movie that I found myself liking more and it was done for a fraction of the budget here.