Aug 15 2009
Movie Review: The Time Traveler’s Wife
Friday means new movie releases, and this week I ventured out to see a new movie myself. My trip to theaters took me to see The Time Traveler’s Wife with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. The movie, based on the novel of the same name, tells the story of a love that somehow survives the interruption of time. Henry, played by Bana, is a time traveler. He has it in his genetic code to travel from one point in time to the next without thought. It just happens. During his travels, he is always drawn to one specific meadow, and this is where he meets his future wife. He first meets Clare Abshire when she is six years old, and over the years he meets her in that meadow time and time again until they finally find each other in the present.
When they do meet in the present finally, he has no idea who Clare is, but she knows who he is quite well. He is her best friend and the love of her life. He just needs to catch up to her a bit. For the rest of the movie, we see how they deal with his traveling, try to build a life together, and try to have a family. Apparently, he can pass on the gene of time travel to his off spring, and this makes carrying a pregnancy to full term hard for Clare. However, they finally manage to have a child, but their time is short. We learn that he doesn’t live passed the age of his mid-forties, around 43. He eventually figures out what date he does die, and this gives him the chance for one final good-bye with his love.
Yes, this movie is a tear jerker. Having read the book myself, I knew what to expect, but the movie did take liberties as well. There is a lot from the book that was left out of the movie, and the ending in the movie isn’t like the ending in the book. Having talked to a few others that have seen the movie on Friday, the reviews for the film are mixed. Some loved it. Some hated it. One I spoke to wanted to see some of the scenes that didn’t make the movie and was hoping for some kind of true to the book alternate ending. I would agree with that. We will have to see if we get that when the DVD is released.
As for this movie, I found myself completely involved in it. There were so many well done scenes that just tugged so hard at the heart strings. Every time Henry sees his mother just touched me. The one specific scene in the subway where he sees her, and she has Henry at home waiting at the age of three. He uses this time to tell her about Clare in his own way. The wedding scene is another that stands out. This movie was well acted and stayed true to the book for the most part. A true love story here that I thoroughly enjoyed personally and would recommend to anyone. What did you think of The Time Traveler’s Wife if you went to go see it?
