My review of the disappointing The Time Machine (the second version) was published in The Kansas City Kansan on March 9, 2002.

By Steve Crum

It does not take a time traveler to realize that the newest take on The Time Machine, which opened yesterday, will be forgotten in the very near future. And that is too bad, because on the surface, this production has a trio of pluses.

•First of all, Simon Wells, the real life great-grandson of H. G. Wells, directs. The elder Wells, of course, wrote the classic science fiction novel upon which this movie is based. This is Simon’s first live action effort, having helmed four animated features, including The Prince of Egypt. Interesting trivia: Gore Verbinski (The Mexican) took over the last 18 days of shooting when Wells collapsed due to “extreme exhaustion.” 

•Second, the star is one of the notable young actors in Hollywood, Guy Pearce. His work in 1997’s L. A. Confidential is terrific. But he is nowhere near the necessary beefy and emotional presence of Rod Taylor, who starred in the 1960 original—directed by George Pal. 

•The third plus involves a personal kudo—the inclusion of Alan Young. Young co-starred in the far superior ’60 version—in two different roles, no less. (Yes, this is the same Mr. Ed Young who played Wilbur.) Young does technically appear in this remake, and that is about all. He has a couple of lines of dialogue delivered in his unnamed character’s dimly lit flower shop. He did not own a flower shop in the earlier movie. The fact that neither of his original two roles is worked into this script is a grievous mistake. Why then include him at all? For old times sake? Please. For viewers who remember him with Rod Taylor, good luck in the confusion.

So what does The Time Machine, circa 2002, have going for it? There is a slight save when Orlando Jones’ Vox character appears as a holographic librarian, a virtual encyclopedia. If only the rest of the film had any similar depth or humor.

Oh, there are the state-of-the-art special effects. The time machine itself is larger, has more valves and knobs, zaps concentrated light, and encompasses itself in a power sphere en route. (Remember that the machine never moves; the world moves around IT.) Is all this impressive? Not really. Give me the simplified original of 42 years ago. Then there are the digitals included in very dark sequences, set underground in the land of the Morlocks. (Morlocks are ape-like villains.) Scenes of the creatures being disintegrated are cheesy looking even in the semi-darkness.

Let’s continue to assume you are familiar with the 1960 plot. Both movies are set at the turn of the 20th Century when cars were far outnumbered by horses. This version’s central character, Alexander Hartdegen (Pearce), is a nebbish genius/inventor whose life seems changed when he falls in love. After his fiancé is killed in a botched robbery, he uses his untested time device to change history. Without spoiling too much, just realize there are complications. 

Alex eventually decides to gyrate into the future, only a few years a time at first. As in Pal’s original, there are cool looking passage of time scenes of the sun and moon rising and setting in quick time. There are rapid fire dress changes on mannequins in a local shop’s window. Buildings rise, expand, fall, are rebuilt, and destroyed. There is an impressive overview shot of the entire city in metamorphosis over many, many years. 

An accident causes the machine to veer some 800,000 years into the future, a time when fragments of an exploding moon have wiped out most of the earth. Alex lands in a country inhabited by passive cliff dwellers, the Eloi, and the underground cannibals, the aforementioned Morlocks. Amazingly, Professor Nerd morphs into Mr. Macho, and single-handedly lowers himself into Morlock city to rescue his begotten Eloi babe, Mara (Samantha Mumba). By the way, the vicious Morlocks in this version are not lumbering and green as in the original. These brown things leap and run on all fours like the apes in last year’s Planet of the Apes. 

And what should one make of the underdeveloped and far too brief inclusion of Jeremy Irons as the albino Uber-Morlock? Looking and acting like a reject from the X-Men (or Johnny Winter on a bad day), this baddie even has super strength. He also has the ability to read and bend minds. Yet somehow he lets Pearce’s character outwit him. But I thought…that he thought….

Just don’t think.

Before you know it, this confusing and empty-hearted Time Machine has clocked on by. Consider it a bit of disappointing movie history that could easily be remedied by going back in time, and scrapping the very idea of a remake.

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GRADE on an A-F Scale: D

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