The Time Machine (2002)

For all that the 1960 version of The Time Machine captured imaginations, the visuals could not yet realize the more ambitious concepts in H.G. Wells' precautionary tale about technological advancement. It's the upgrades possible in 2002 that give the best excuse for remaking the film, carrying it past some clumsy weaknesses. This Machine undertakes original visual ideas with stunning panache, most notably the central time-lapse fast forward through 800,000 years of digitally changing climates and topography. A brief sequence of the moon breaking up into chunks, truncated in the wake of the terrorist attacks (originally, skyscrapers were showered with debris), offers a hint of what exciting things might come on DVD. The production is gorgeous in less predictable ways, such as the grand establishing shot of 1899 Manhattan, complete with a sea of horse-drawn carriages galloping down Central Park West. What keeps The Time Machine from riding its look to greatness is a hokey story line and an effete, affected performance from Guy Pearce, who slips in and out of character in distracting ways. (This may point to the inexperience of director Simon Wells, an animation veteran and the author's great grandson, seemingly employed as part of an ill-considered PR stunt.) The distant future will bother some viewers for its similarities to Planet of the Apes, and it's controlled by a subspecies of underground dwellers who represent the lower end of the film's production design. This version is in ways more complete than its 1960 counterpart, such as providing concrete motivations for Pearce's character, but it's also a greater slave to shoddily executed Hollywood dictates. Audiences there just for the CG should be able look past these in favor of what the film gets right, including an array of time travel conundrums. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide