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The Time Machine (2002 film). What did you think of the movie?

I think the George Pal film is quite accurate to the book, at least by the standards of movie adaptations of books. There's not much you could do to improve on it. You could take out Filby and the nuclear-war themes, but what would be gained by that? It's a worthy addition that fits the book's message quite well, just updated with more modern knowledge. You could make the Eloi less human and restore the Time Traveller's difficulty communicating with them, but what would be the dramatic value of leaving the lead character with nobody to talk to? You could put back the journey to the far future and the end of the world, and restore the original ending where he just takes off for unknown times rather than going back to help the Eloi, but it seems that would be a weaker and more unfocused ending for a movie.

No, I think the Pal version is as accurate as it needs to be, and its embellishments work quite well. The only value to doing a new film adaptation would to bring something different, something that previous versions didn't already give us. That's what the Pal film succeeded in doing -- it balanced fidelity to the original story with the injection of new ideas that gave it contemporary relevance for the Cold War era. Another remake would be worth doing if it could do the same and add some fresh meaning to the tale that would only be possible from a modern perspective. If all you want is something accurate to the book, then I recommend rereading the book.
 
Seeing so many people here who liked it, makes me thing I should give the 2002 movie another try.
 
As I recall it, this version blows. But the scene with the moon breaking up is pretty incredible. I have no idea if it would really look like that, but it was very dramatic.
 
It's been a while since I say the movie, from memory it's a fairly average movie and I think the first part of the movie was stronger than the second.
 
For all of its debatable faults, both the '02 film and the George Pal adaptation conclude on a note of hope. The '02 film depicts the hologram teaching the Eloi and Filby in the 1960 movie realizes George has left for the future with some books to help "build a new world", leaving it to the audience (by way of Mrs. Watchit, to consider, "Which books would you have taken?"

On the other hand, Wells' novel is rather tragic with the fate of Weena technically being unknown, but the odds either kidnapped by the Morlocks as food or dying in a forest fire. I'll take either movie's conclusion over that.

Plus, I have to applaud the '02 film's designers for tackling a seemingly impossible task, envisioning a time machine prop/set piece they knew would be compared to the iconic Wah Chang concept. I would have hated to be in their shoes! It was a classic case of "d*mned if you do; d*mned if you don't". Design something close to the 1960 prop and fans would skewer them for being "unoriginal". Design something totally different, and other fans would roast them for not paying respect to the Pal film.

Me? I really liked the alternative take! It had spinning parabolic "dishes" as did Chang's design, but used 2 instead of the single. Whereas Chang's was a solid "dish", these were open brass frameworks with fesnel glass components. And, in one aspect of direct homage, the '02 machine possessed an exact recreation of the vintage barber chair the Chnag machine had. If cornered, I'd probably confess I like the 1960 design better, probably from a sense of nostalgia; but I certainly can not condemn what was devised for the '02 release. In fact, I downloaded digital models of both (which can be found for free at ShareCG.com).

Sincerely,

Bill
 
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