Teen Romance Movies

The Time Traveler's Wife List Price: $19.98 Sale Price: $11.49 You save: $8.49 (42%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Average Rating:

Description

Lose yourself in timeless love with this gloriously romantic story of the journey of two hearts. Artist Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams of The Notebook) shares a deep emotional bond with Henry De Tamble (Eric Bana of The Other Boleyn Girl), a handsome librarian who travels involuntarily through time. Knowing they can be separated without warning, Clare and Henry treasure the moments they have together, imbuing them with the yearning and passion of two people imprisoned by time…and set free by love. Based on the #1 bestseller, The Time Traveler's Wife weaves together destiny and devotion, past and future to turn an extraordinary love into an extraordinary love story.

A genuinely old-fashioned Hollywood romance with a science fiction angle, The Time Traveler's Wife stars Eric Bana as Henry DeTamble, a Chicago librarian with a genetic disorder causing him to travel through time involuntarily. The screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin (My Life), based on a novel by Audrey Niffenegger, incorporates some of those crazy paradoxes that are a part of time-travel fiction, but without beating one over the head. Take Henry's introduction to his future wife, Clare (Rachel McAdams), who tells him they've already met even though they haven't actually met. Brain teasers, however, are not what The Time Traveler's Wife is about. In a quite haunting way, the story really concerns what it means to know and love someone at every phase of his or her life. The fact that Henry's life, from Clare's perspective, is hardly linear--he can disappear and turn back up again at different ages--means that she must cherish what is essential about him. Which doesn't mean the couple is immune to periods of unhappiness, including a painful sequence about trying to bear a child--perhaps a child that might also carry the time-traveling gene. While there is nothing particularly exciting stylistically about The Time Traveler's Wife, in many ways it has the simple charms and clear emotions of a 1940s weepie assigned by a studio to one of its journeyman, contract directors. (The film was directed by Flightplan's Robert Schwentke.) A couple of supporting players, Arliss Howard (as Henry's father) and Ron Livingston (as Henry's friend), provide even more reason to recommend this movie as a satisfying experience. --Tom Keogh

DVD Information

Binding: DVD
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Brand: Warner
Manufacturer: New Line
Original Release Date:
Actors:

• Rachel McAdams
• Eric Bana
• Arliss Howard
• Ron Livingston

Reviews

Great movie!

by Stephen Ashley from Florida, USA on 2009-09-20
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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Here You Leave Today and Enter a World of Yesterday and Tomorrow

by Chris Pandolfi from Los Angeles, CA on 2009-08-15
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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a fitting adaptation of a superb novel

by AIROLF from USA on 2009-08-26
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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Heartfelt, Touching Adaptation of The Best-Selling Novel

by Terence Allen from Atlanta, GA USA on 2009-09-07
"The Time Traveler's Wife," based on the best-seller novel by Audrey Niffenegger, is a beautifully realized, poignant romance that makes the viewer thing a lot about love, time, space, devotion, and many other lofty topics. Eric Bana plays, Henry, a librarian who has a genetic disorder that causes him to randomly travel in time without any notice. He arrives and returns from his travels naked, and has no control over when he leaves and returns. His travels find him at various ages, reliving events like the death of his opera-singer mother in a car accident, or experiencing events for the first time, like getting to know a young girl name Clair. When he is in his late twenties, Clair, who is exactly twenty(played by Rachel McAdams),finds him. At this point, he doesn't know her, but she has known him since she was a little girl. The rest of film details a relationship fraught with the unknown. Henry leaves and returns without any warning, takes a few close friend into his confidence regarding his secret, struggles to maintain a romance, then a marriage with Clair, and struggles to start a family and remain hopeful, knowing that the future is uncertain and likely to remain unstable. Bana and McAdams are wonderful in the roles of Henry and Clair. This movie wouldn't work at all unless the characters were perfectly played, had chemistry, and were able to make you focus on the struggle of their relationship rather than the fantasy element of their problem. But the skill of the story is that time traveler ends up being such a perfect metaphor for the uncertainty and difficulties of romantic relationships. This movie is wonderfully moving in ways that have to be experienced rather than described.

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'Knowing about the future isn't always that great.'

by Grady Harp from Los Angeles, CA United States on 2010-02-12
THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE is a diversion. At times what works well in a novel doesn't translate to the screen: the magic of the reader's imagination can be more powerful than the visualization of a screenwriter and director. Such is the case of Audrey Niffenegger's novel - an escape into a world of the unknown (time traveling) that played well on the page largely due to the writing skill of the author. Bruce Joel Rubin's screenplay makes a mighty attempt to make visual the imaginary magic of the novel and thanks to CGI it pulls off the rather strange effects of appearing and disappearing of a time traveler. Robert Schwentke directs with a hefty dose of saccharine though, making what could have been a delicate story somewhat lugubrious. Henry DeTamble (Eric Bana) has the genetic code that allows him to travel backward and forward in time - a trait that requires a certain degree of acceptance on the part of the audience. We see Henry as a child, as a young man who meets a girl who will on a different 'trip' be a woman Clare Abshire (Rachel McAdams), and witness a bizarre courtship between a couple whose match seems made in heaven.... Along the way Clare's friends (Jane McLean as Charisse and Ron Livingston as a vastly different Gomez than in the novel) figure into the quasi-normal relationship/marriage that takes place. The tale can be confusing if the viewer is not willing to enter the realm of 'possible' and the main guide of the film seems to focus on the fact that whenever Henry time travels, he ends up in his new destination naked (there are many scenes of Eric Bana just searching for clothes). Of course the film can't have a logical ending, but the ending selected, corny though it is, fits the story. Lots of sugar to swallow here, but if you're in a Valentine mood it is a pleasant diversion. Grady Harp, February 10

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