The Time Machine
DreamWorks Distribution | Release Date: March 8, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
42
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
4
Mixed:
20
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
The film, in its early going, also has a nice light humor about it, and an engaging, albeit tragic, love story. Read full review
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
For the most part, it's imaginatively staged and consistently entertaining. Read full review
70
New Times (L.A.)Gregory Weinkauf
Delivers a thoughtful what-if for the heart as well as the mind. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
A revisiting of George Pal's 1960 adaptation of the H. G. Wells novel. Pal's take on the book was visually delightful and occasionally clever; this one is always workmanlike and mainly pedestrian. Read full review
60
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Machine makes its look-to-the-future-not-the-past message as clear as a Grammy acceptance speech, but as an exploration of regret and the elusive quality of time, it falls well short of "Memento," another film starring a sad-eyed Pearce. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Amazingly stilted before accelerating into its exciting finish. Read full review
60
SalonCharles Taylor
The Time Machine is, for the most part, a handsome, pleasant entertainment. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
As old-fashioned movie fun, this isn't bad, even -- especially? -- when it skirts the edge of silliness, and it's better than the 1960 George Pal version. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
There's something wrong with a time-travel movie that allows an audience's interest to drift so that we have time to worry over where he's parked, and whether he remembered to take his key. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Deliberately quaint and old-fashioned, a once-over-slightly exercise in nostalgic wonder directed by the British-born great-grandson of H.G. Wells, who treats the spirit of his ancestor's novel with literal-minded fealty. Read full review
50
Washington PostStephen Hunter
Weirdly disjointed and uncertain as to tone. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeJay Carr
The best thing about the new film of H.G. Wells's The Time Machine is the machine. Read full review
50
SlateDavid Edelstein
The film has no spirit of inquiry -- no spirit at all, really. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
Drab as it is, the movie is not impossible to endure -- in part because the concept has a timeless appeal. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Most of Wells' details are there, and so is the basic premise, but the soul of the thing -- the point -- is missing. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
The Time Machine is stupid -- too stupid for the impressive special effects or the competently directed action sequences to wash away the bitter taste. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
It's a movie that robs the story of its politics and point and never really matches the charm of the '60s film. Read full review
50
L.A. WeeklyManohla Dargis
In the new film, it's personal tragedy that provokes the journey, not social upheaval or even scientific curiosity -- which, predictably, makes for a story that's at once more familiar and less interesting. Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The last 40 minutes descend further and further into nonsense, until we're in an underground grotto where Jeremy Irons plays a furry, cannibalistic albino with psychic powers and super-strength. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
If Welles was unhappy at the prospect of the human race splitting in two, he probably wouldn't be too crazy with his great-grandson's movie splitting up in pretty much the same way. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
This uninviting and pallid version, starring Guy Pearce, is intent on grinding all the sharp edges off the original story, in effect making the movie childproof, so no one can get hurt touching it. Read full review
40
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Breaks down when it gets to the distant future, which in this case isn't a good place to be stranded. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineFrank Lovece
They STILL didn't get it right this TIME. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
The film's two saving graces are the time machine itself -- a gorgeous, whirling array of burnished copper and blazing light -- and the CGI-created rise and fall of New York City. Read full review
38
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
A witless recycling of the H.G. Wells story from 1895, with the absurdity intact but the wonderment missing. Read full review
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Wells' vision of the distant future is cartoonishly simplistic without the subtext of British class consciousness that informed the novel. Read full review
38
New York PostJonathan Foreman
So tedious it's almost worth watching to see just how bad acting, inadequate direction and most important, a criminally crass and unimaginative screenplay can make so little out of a proven idea. Read full review
38
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The movie gives us a time machine that resembles a twin-engined Mixmaster and a script that was tossed together inside one. Read full review
33
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
While there are some glittery bits in it, the film is frustrating, cluttered, inelegant and garish. Read full review
30
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Joyless and largely witless sci-fi fantasy.
25
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
If you want a movie time trip, the 1960 version is a far smoother ride. Read full review
20
Village VoiceDennis Lim
If it's remembered at all, it will be as a time capsule of early-21st-century blockbuster cowardice and redundancy. Read full review
10
Film ThreatChris Gore
I’m getting fed up with classic films being remade or ruined by being turned into “Special Editions” that are less than special. Read full review
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