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75 of 84 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Here You Leave Today and Enter a World of Yesterday and Tomorrow, August 14, 2009
While the story for "The Time Traveler's Wife" is not at all interested in plausibility or logic, it is interested in making an emotional connection with the audience, and so it does. Make no mistake--this adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's novel is about as preposterous as it gets, telling the story of a man who can go back and forth through time but lacks the ability to control when he goes and for how long he'll be gone. There's no adequate explanation for his condition, and maybe it's for the best; this a love story, after all, not a supernatural commentary on evolution or expanded consciousness. Besides, if you were to stop for a moment and really think about the idea, the inevitable questions will eventually be so numerous that you'll end up with a headache. For this particular story, you'll be much better off just blindly buying into the premise.
Only then will it be possible to appreciate the more engaging aspects of the story, the most obvious being the romance between the time traveler, Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana), and his wife, Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams). Actually, it would be more accurate to say that sometimes she's his wife--it all depends at what point in time the movie shifts to, and there are many of them. They meet back when she was only six years old and playing alone on her family's vast meadow. From out of nowhere comes a man from the future without any clothes on, and after she gives him his blanket, he tells her that he will officially meet her years later, at which point she will be a college student in a library looking for an art book. You see, during that first encounter, he was older, nearly forty; in the library, he will be younger, say twenty-five or so.
Anyway, as time goes on for Clare, Henry will repeatedly come into and shift out of her life, and they will fall deeply in love and get married. Imagine what this must be like for Clare, never knowing when her husband will appear and disappear out of thin air like a ghost. One second, he's there carrying dishes to the table for dinner, and the next second he's gone, leaving Clare behind to sweep up broken pieces of ceramic. A marriage like this really gives new meaning to the vow, "To have and to hold for all time."
One of the unfortunate side effects of his time travelling is that none of his clothes travel with him, so wherever he goes (whenever, rather), he's forced to steal some by breaking into a store or someone else's home. And at what age will he be when he gets back? One of the film's more clever segments incorporates a fair amount of humor and takes place on their wedding day; a younger version of Henry is getting ready for the ceremony, only to disappear in the bathroom. Fortunately, an older version of Henry arrives just in time, albeit with graying hair. This man disappears after the ceremony, right as Clare's father (Philip Craig) invites them to the dance floor. Fortunately, that's when the younger Henry returns, and even though he was technically there, he apologizes for missing the wedding.
I told you this time travel gimmick was better left unquestioned. Attached to it, however, are emotional issues that are genuinely touching, and this definitely includes Henry and Clare's attempts to have a baby. I will refrain from going into detail here, but here are some questions to think about. Is it reasonable to assume that Henry's condition can be passed along to his child? If so, then is it fair for that child to even be born? There comes a point when he seeks the help of David Kendrick (Steven Tobolowsky), a geneticist, and while the results of his various tests do little to shed light on why Henry is the way he is, he does play a pivotal role in helping him and Clare conceive. Henry, by the way, tells Dr. Kendrick that his condition is known as chronoimpairment, a term Kendrick has not yet coined.
One other emotional issue that serves the story well is the broken relationship between Henry and his father, Richard (Arliss Howard), who hasn't been himself since his wife's untimely death. Henry was only six at the time, but as a time traveler, he continuously goes back to the days before her death and holds brief conversations with her as a stranger. This naturally begs the question of why he can't simply prevent her from dying. This itself begs the question of why, "I've tried, but there's nothing I can do," is the best explanation he has.
Deep human drama runs through this movie, and that's what I found the most compelling. Henry's ability to time travel, however, is conveniently left unexplained. We're only meant to pay attention to the relationship between Henry and Clare, and indeed, we do. The concept is inherently absurd, but the chemistry between the main characters is not; we able to see them up on screen and actually believe that they're in love. That's what's so fascinating about "The Time Traveler's Wife": It's an absorbing drama based on a premise that's impossible to take seriously. How did it achieve this? Much like Henry's condition, it's probably better to not question it and just accept it for what it is.
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40 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great movie!, September 20, 2009
Review from my wife: It was so compelling and well done, and both my husband and I enjoyed this movie tremendously. The story line was intersting, the characters were really well developed and you really care about them. The acting was excellent, and we found ourselves really pulled in throughout the entire movie.
Contrary to some of the reviews I read, this movie was easy to follow. I don't understand what the problem was. I had never read the book, yet it was completely clear what was going on. I don't get why anyone would have had a problem. Also, there was nothing strange or wrong about the traveller visiting the younger version of his love interest. It was very innocent. One reviewer's mention that there was no plausible explanation for the lead's time travel abilities doesn't make sense to me. There was a very sufficient and even detailed explanation given in the movie. Keep in mind that we're dealing with a fiction scifi story here, and it was plenty adequate. I found I was able to buy into the concept and really immerse myself, and ultimately I enjoyed the story very much.
This is a really fine movie, and I'd recommend that anyone who enjoys scifi, time travel or romance view this.
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21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a fitting adaptation of a superb novel, August 25, 2009
A good adaptation of one of the best books of our time. This was a hard act to do and the movie did a rather faithful and strong capturing of the spirit of the book if not a play-by-play retelling of it. Having said that, it's also worth commending the filmmakers on the smoothness with which they handled the disappearance and reappearance of the main character and the CGI that was involved with him dissipating into thin air during his time travels. Eric Bana does justice to Henry, whereas Ron Livingston is perfectly cast in the role of Gomez, Henry's friend and Claire's "protector" (in the book Gomez is obsessed with Claire and wished to spend the rest of his life with her, whereas in the movie his relationship isn't as clearly defined - he is mostly a concerned friend). It's sad that this movie was shelved for so long and it's very reassuring to see it do well at the box office (so far the movie has grossed about $30 million domestically and the theater I went to tonight was sold out for the 8 pm showing - always a good sign for a film).
Disclamer: It's also worth noting that as a huge fan of the book, my opinion about this movie is rather skewed - I tend to fill in the gaps and care about the characters because the book had done a great job of developing the characters. The movie, however, hardly makes the characters relateable, and someone who sees the movie without having the book as the plot background, might find the Claire-Henry relationship a bit offputting.
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