• Genre: Science Fiction
• MPAA Rating: PG13
• AMG Rating:
• Regional Coding: 1
  USA and territories, Canada

The classic science fiction novel by H.G. Wells becomes this big-budget adventure directed by the author's great-grandson Simon Wells. Guy Pearce stars as Alexander Hartdegen, a scientist, professor, and inventor in 1895 New York City who believes that time travel is possible. The sudden and unexpected death of his fiancée spurs Alexander to build a time machine, which he hopes to use in an effort to change the past. When he is unable to change the past, Alexander hurls himself more than 800,000 years into the future, seeking answers about the nature of time, but instead encountering a dystopian world where humanity has divided up into two races, the peaceful Eloi and the subterranean Morlocks. Befriending the beautiful Eloi woman Mara (pop singer Samantha Mumba), Alexander must set out to save her from the underground world of the Morlocks when she is captured by them. Along the way, he is aided by Vox (Orlando Jones), a bio-mechanical being from the 21st century. Ultimately, Alexander makes a shocking discovery about the true nature of the Eloi and Morlocks and decides that the only way to change the future is to alter the present. Due to exhaustion, director Wells was briefly replaced during the last few weeks of production by Gore Verbinski, director of The Mexican (2001). The Time Machine co-stars Jeremy Irons and Mark Addy. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Bonus Features

• "Creating the Time Machine"
• "Creating the Morlocks"
• Animated sequence featuring Simon Wells' original storyboards set to music
• Commentaries from director, producer, editor and visual effects supervisor
• Deleted scenes

Actors

Guy Pearce, Samantha Mumba, Mark Addy, Sienna Guillory, Phyllida Law, Alan Young, Omero Mumba, Yancey Arias, Orlando Jones

Director

Simon Wells

Producer

Walter Parkes, David Valdes, Catherine Sudolcan

Violence, Questionable for Children

• Sound : DD5.1/DS/DTS
• Language : Eng/Fre/Spa
• Subtitles : Eng/Spa

• Screen : WSE
• Dar : 2.35:1

Review

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

• Release Date : July 23, 2002
• Length : 96 Minutes
• Dvdsides : 1
• Dvddiscs : 1
• Upc : 667068997224