Time travel and romance have always been intertwined to the true romantic heart. Science fiction aside, there is just something about traveling through time for matters of the heart that quickens the senses.
Being a fan of the romantic genre (in books mainly but movies as well), I always love a good time travel romance (The Outlander book series being one of my favorites). I mention this because The Time Traveler's Wife as a “time travel romance” is vastly different from any other I have encountered and for this I applaud its uniqueness.
Set thoroughly in modern times, the premise is that Henry (Eric Bana) can travel through time to special places or events in his life. This is the result of a genetic abnormality, but it doesn’t help him change tragic events as we see in the opening sequence.
His mother, a semi-famous opera singer, died in a car accident when he was a boy. This is the first time in his life that he traveled through time - he travels out of the car, which saves his life. An older Henry shows up on the side of the road and wraps him in a blanket (part of the curse of the time traveling is that he travels in the buff) and explains hurriedly what is going on to the frightened boy Henry.
The story then moves forward to Henry’s soul mate, Clare (the beautiful Rachel McAdams with red hair). She knows him but he does not know her ... yet. It seems that he has been visiting the same place over and over, a grassy knoll by Clare’s house. She has helped him since she was six-years-old by leaving clothes for him hidden in the glen.
And therein is the other premise. True love, and just in time for Valentine’s Day release.
And that is what The Time Traveler’s Wife is, a love story, made complicated with the complications of a time line that is not congruent.
Clare and Henry argue as all couples do, but not about money (in the movie he puts his power to good use and wins the lottery for them). They fight about him disappearing at inopportune times. At one point, he disappears and is gone for two weeks. He disappears getting ready for their wedding and an older version of him comes through the window to marry her.
Women will nod and it will click with them. Men in our lives disappearing at odd times for whatever reason is not a good thing. It is what my husband terms a “chick flick.”
However, it is a very well-made, eye-catching, romantic movie. The flow of the events that shapes Clare and Henry’s life is done superbly. It is edited very well, and with any time travel movie, that is a slight miracle.
Men might question the sci-fi aspect of it and pick it apart (my husband did and kept asking when the Terminator was going to show up to put him out of his misery). Apparently there are some rules in the sci-fi universe (such as two bodies of the same matter cannot occupy the same space) that were established in other films, but not used here.
As with any time travel story, you CAN pick it apart if you think hard enough about it. However, I would say just to enjoy the romantic ride and don’t go all sci-fi rule orientated. If it really bothers you, this is probably not the movie for you and I would pass it by (or watch it to humor your significant other and just roll your eyes every once in awhile).
Now for all the fans of the book out there.
The movie is based on the best-seller by Audrey Niffenegger, and I don’t want to do a book review in comparison to the movie, but I will say that there are changes in the movie. I have read the book and so I was familiar with the story and knew what to expect.
I personally did not mind the changes they made, and the two special features that are included with the Blu-ray release give good arguments as to why the producers, director, and writer made these changes. It is always interesting to me when I have read a book that is made into a movie to see the changes made.
All in all, I would highly recommend this adaption from book-to-movie. It is well casted - Eric Bana is incredibly dreamy (woman’s viewpoint here and I like him as an actor) and Rachel McAdams fit exactly what I thought Clare show look, act, and sound like.
The colors really pop on Blu-ray (the grassy meadow looks like something out of a fluorescent dream sequence). For the romantic at heart, 4 love-filled stars shaped like little lacy hearts.
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