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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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?
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.
Question: Why don't we see Calvin stand up to his abusive father and why does he abuse him?
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.
Question: How is it that Meg and Charles' mother has not noticed that her children were gone?
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.
Question: When Meg returns with her father, did she still have to write apology letters to Principal Jenkins and Veronica?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Answer: Some schools can go from kindergarten all the way up to grade nine. My school was that way.
Question: When Meg hugs her mom, why would Mrs. Murry ask her if it's a dream?
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.
Question: Are Meg and Veronica friends at the end of the movie?
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.
Answer: Like any other such change from the source material, it's just artistic license.
wizard_of_gore ★