A time travel inventor travels to the future where the passive Eloi are in danger of becoming prey to subterranean mutants called Morlocks.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: G
Release Date: 13-MAR-2001
Media Type: DVDAfter scoring popular hits with When Worlds Collide and The War of the Worlds, special-effects pioneer George Pal returned to the visionary fiction of H.G. Wells to produce and direct this science-fiction classic from 1960. Wells’s imaginative tale of time travel was published in 1895 and the movie is set in approximately the same period with Rod Taylor as a scientist whose magnificent time machine allows him to leap backward and forward in the annals of history. His adventures take him far into the future, where a meek and ineffectual race known as the Eloi have been forced to hide from the brutally monstrous Morlocks. As Taylor tests his daring invention, Oscar-winning special effects show us what the scientist sees: a cavalcade of sights and sounds as he races through time at varying speeds, from lava flows of ancient earth to the rise and fall of a towering future metropolis.
The movie’s charm lies in its Victorian setting and the awe and wonder that carries over from Wells’s classic story. The pioneering spirit of the movie is still enthralling, but it gets a bit silly when Taylor turns into a stock hero, rescuing a beautiful blonde Eloi (Yvette Mimieux) and battling with the chubby green Morlocks whose light-bulb eyes blink out when they die. Although it’s quaint when compared to the special-effects marvels of the digital age, the movie’s still highly entertaining and filled with a timeless sense of wonder. –Jeff Shannon
Buy “The Time Machine” For Only $9.48
March 5, 2010
#1
Unrealistic and unbelievably dumb
March 5, 2010
#2
Why this film garners praise is beyond me. My idea of a true sci fi classic would be “The War of The Worlds”. This film is cheesy and ridiculous and frankly the sfx are way outdated. And please, in the future the human race is made up of BLUE EYED BLOND HAIRED PEOPLE???? Sounds Hitlerlike to me and I am insulted by the premise. I’m glad this movie was updated with the newest version which looks at the human race in a much more realistic and non insulting way. For that reason alone I would support Simon Wells’ version.
March 5, 2010
#3
When I was 12 and this film came out, I was enthralled with it. Recently I had the opportunity to revisit it, and was really let down, with the schmaltzy dialogue, cheapo sets and makeup and cheesy special effects. I dare say that any 12 year old today would think the same thing, as they’re conditioned to today’s more sophisticated sci fi movies. I have high hopes that Dreamworks will do it right with their new verison of the film.
March 5, 2010
#4
…I have no image nor sound. What am I? A: A defective DVD. WB needs to get their freakin’ act together and release better cases for their DVDs and insure quality in all releases. This disc tried to load for a while and stopped at ‘No Play’. What fun!
March 5, 2010
#5
goods: period setting, good characters
bads: unfaithful to the book’s ending
the best version of this movie as of today, 2005
overall: maybe