A Wrinkle in Time dolls
Mindy Kaling, Oprah Winfrey and Reece Witherspoon have had their film character selves replicated as dolls. Twitter screenshot

KEY POINTS

  • A Wrinkle in Time's diverse cast have been turned into Barbie dolls.
  • But some criticised Disney and Barbie for failing to represent their real body sizes.

Some of A Wrinkle in Time's cast were in awe today when Disney released Barbies based on their characters, taking to social media to share their excitement.

The film's director Ava DuVernay shared an image of three dolls based on Oprah Winfrey, Reece Witherspon and Mindy Kaling's characters. The caption read: "When Disney makes Barbies of your movie's characters and you just want to stare at them all day in disbelief because you loved Barbies as a girl but never had any like these. #WrinkleinTime".

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The American science fantasy adventure film is based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Madeleine L'Engle. Set to be released in March of this year, the blockbuster includes huge names such as Winfrey, Witherspoon and Kaling, as well as Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Chris Pine. It has a markedly diverse cast compared to many of Disney's previous live-action films such as Cinderella or Snow White and the Huntsman.

Similarly, unlike Disney's well-known princess stories, the narrative starts with the disappearance of the protagonist Meg's, scientist father as she learns he is trapped on a distant planet deep in the grip of a universe-spanning evil.

Kaling, who plays Mrs. Who, shared a series of hands up emojis in reaction to the Barbie image.

Other users took to social media to mirror the excitement. One wrote: "starting to become overwhelmed. Between this and Black Panther, I am feeling emotions that I am sadly not use too. Tears of satisfaction flow".

Another added: "OMG, and they look just like them. #Diversity is POWER! Thank you AVA!"

Not everyone thought the dolls were truly diverse, however, with some pointing out the traditionally petite Barbie body shape was kept.

One user said: "those a wrinkle in time barbies are not great [to be honest]. Compressing Mindy Kaling and Oprah's body shapes into the generic pencil neck mould of a traditional barbie is pretty f*****d up."

It seems overall however that most people are positive about the dolls.