A Ring of Endless Light (2002) Reviews

• a travesty

  evadedcadence2002-08-23

  SPOILERS!!! Madeleine L'Engle is my favorite author. _A Ring of Endless Light_ is my favorite book. This movie should have never been made because it makes Ms L'Engle look like the writer of a bad after-school special. The woman who wrote the tele-play should be ashamed of herself. There are so, so many characters left out of the movie (Vicky has an older brother John who works at the Science Center w/ Adam... not to mention The Rodneys and Jeb Nutley!).. and there are NO death walls in the book! Vicky and Adam and Zach do not catch the "bad guys" because there really are no "bad guys" in the book. Zachary's father is an international business man, not the owner of a fleet of fishing boats!!! Zachary does NOT live on the island.. he would probably rather die than live there, IMHO. Vicky's parents would NEVER force her to attend a school she didn't want to go to.. and are very supportive of her writing. Oh, and the entire family knows about Grandfather's leukemia--that's why they are spending the entire summer with him (and the parents are there with the children, in the book)! Mr. Rochester and Ned belong to The Austins, not to Grandfather. Just so, so many plot points are left out and replaced by dumb ones. BTW, Enid's calf dies in the book... and when Vicky and Adam are out in open water Basil brings another dolphin (Norberta) with her calf (Njord) to comfort Vicky and Adam. Oh, and Basil is NOT Enid's mate... It just seems that the tele-play writer wanted to make a dolphin movie and couldn't come up with her own character names... It pained me to see these horrible actors speaking some of Ms L'Engle's best words. . . I burst into tears several times during the movie because the script and plot got me so, so mad! The only thing I did like was the actor playing Grandfather--if this horrible movie was more like the book, he would have been the PERFECT person to play Vicky's wonderful Grandfather. This book is perfect... Sadly, when people attempt to improve upon perfection they fail miserably.

• An over-simplified, Disney version of an intelligent, successful novel

  liquidmercury2006-09-05

  This movie is supposed to be based on a Ring of Endless light by Madeleine L'Engle but completely veers from the text. Disney made an interesting book about coping with death and dying, and finding your place in the universe a sappy movie about illegal fishing that has nothing to do with the novel. Anyone who has read the book will be highly disappointed about how this book has chopped into pieces to make a magical ending that seems deeper than it really is. This would be a great Disney movie if it hadn't been proclaimed to be based on a Ring of Endless Light, because it is mostly lighthearted and good for children, but it is absolutely horrid for true L'Engle fans.

• Absolutely Dreadful

  quick_its_the_cops2004-07-18

  I did not enjoy this movie at all. I am a huge fan of the book and at first was excited that Disney decided to make a movie from it. I was shocked that the movie was not like the book AT ALL. I really did not like the actors and actresses chosen to depict the characters. Mischa Barton does in fact have a similar appearance to the Vicky in the book, but is not a very good actress and her performance was unenjoyable. I expected Zachary Gray to be more "dark" and "pale" as he is described in the book and I was disappointed that Jared Padalecki was chosen for this part. There were a lot of characters either added or taken out of the story. Whatever happened to Leo and Jacky Rodney, Mrs. Rodney, and the death of Commander Rodney? Or what about Binnie at the hospital? Or even Mr. and Mrs. Austin, who only appear in the movie at the very end. Scarlett Pomers was also not a good choice to play Suzy. She appears as red-headed, frizzy-haired and four-eyed instead of the petite, dark-haired, purple-eyed tween genius she was described as in the book. There were also a lot of different things added to the movie, such as the whole story about the drift nets which did not appear in the book at all. I think Disney captured this whole idea about changing the movie from the story of a teenage girl coping with her grandfather's leukemia into the story of a girl choosing between two boys and having to deal with the captain of some ship leaving drift nets in the water and potentially capturing the dolphins. To conclude, I was extremely disappointed with this movie. In my opinion, read the book. It's one of the best pieces of written fiction I've read, and is much more satisfying as a story than the movie ever will be.

• never read the book, liked the movie

  mischafan2002-09-04

  most negitive reviews of this movie are by people who loved the book. as i have never read the book, i enjoyed watching the movie with my family. the ever charming mischa barton does what she does best, gets the viewers to like her. she shines as vicky austin and keeps the whole movie together. their are better movies out their and mischa has done better work, but she is good and the movie is worth watching.

• A Ring of Endless LIght

  diggettperry2009-08-23

  I did not read the book that this movie was loosely based on, however, I thought it to be a wonderful movie, uplifting, sweetly played and suitable for young and old alike. Mischa Barton as the Granddaughter, interested in ecology and writing, sends a positive message to teens that we don't often see in movies today. James Whitmore as the Grandfather, a wonderful Character Actor, plays his character making you want to have a Grandfather like him or maybe even reminding you of a Grandfather you once had like him. The children in the movie show Respect and love for the older generation and this is something that one doesn't see in life, much less the movies very often today. I know, I'm a teacher. I was sad to find out that Disney (DCOM) did not put this in DVD form for sale. It was only shown on TV. I would buy this movie for my collection, if and when this happens.