The Time Traveler's Wife

3/5 stars

Beautiful, romantic, tear-jerker but insufficient in many ways, “The Time Traveler’s Wife” just wasn’t enough.

Henry (Bana), is a librarian with a genetic disorder that lets him travel through time. It’s an uncontrollable disorder that throws him in the past or in the future naked, and totally lost where he is. One thing though was constant in his time traveling…Claire (McAdams). Claire first met Henry in her childhood, in the meadow near her parent’s home. From then on, Claire was a recurring character in Henry’s time traveling. By chance of fate, one day, they finally met when Henry’s not time traveling, in the library where Henry is working. They soon fell in love and got married but how can their romance go on with Henry’s genetic disorder causing him to always disappear and making Claire wait till who knows when he’s coming back?

First and foremost, I wasn’t able to read the book. In a way, I’m glad I didn’t because there’s still a little satisfaction left in me to give this movie credit for an attempt to depict Audrey Niffenegger’s masterpiece into the big screen. I’d like to believe that the epic theme of Claire and Henry’s romance diminished in the movie adaptation. There are just so many untied loose ends totally disrupting the movie’s romantic element. The development of romance wasn’t executed very well thus leaving the audience in a rush to follow the character’s build-up from falling in love to “I Love You”. The story in general is a little confusing with the use of the concept of time traveling. Gladly, the idea that Henry was naked when he time travels saves the audience from further confusion. At least you know that there’s something constant and that when he’s naked in the scene, that means he’s time traveling. Direction was passable but if the director was more technical about the effects maybe he could have executed the time traveling clearer. In such a way that it doesn’t add more bizarreness to the already complex storyline. Because of the plot’s complexity, the confusion that arose from Henry’s constant travel back and forth makes the movie a little mind-boggling but nonetheless, the romantic element was still intact.

What’s very very commendable about the movie was its cinematography. Wow! I specifically loved the part when Claire and Henry’s daughter was born and to save running time while showing the years that passed, frames were interconnected to each other that simply created a delight for the eyes. As I’ve said I wasn’t able to read the book but I am not very happy about the movie’s script. In my opinion it wasn’t written very well causing flaws in the build up of romance as well as in the movie’s over-all development of tension in the plot. Also, the script lacks a lot of important dialogues that will draw the audience flow with the plot. If this movie was trying to pull off a “show! don’t tell” case, I dare say it wasn’t successful at all.

Rachel McAdams, I think is our generation’s Meg Ryan only, with better acting. She was perfect for the role of Claire and her facial expressions are admirable. I love the fact that McAdams was able to convey different emotions with just her facial expressions. She doesn’t have to be hysterical but by just looking at her, you’ll be able to feel her pain or any other variety of human emotions needed in a particular scene. Eric Bana wasn’t superb in his acting but rather okay. There were scenes that his acting was insufficient that’s why some scenes appears to be raw if we’ll talk about the emotions that should be conveyed. What I have to say about him is how HOT he is. As in OMG!!! If only for his hotness, I am so drawn to this movie. One star in my rating is actually for Eric Bana’s hotness!

In many ways, ”The Time Traveler’s Wife” is still worth the watch. I am not saying it’s superb but it’s ok. It’s confusing and mind-boggling at times but concentrate on the romantic element of the plot and surely, this movie is very much enjoyable. It’s very heartfelt and touching. I was actually super crying during the last 30 minutes of the movie. Once you get the flow of the plot, you’ll already be drawn to the character’s love story which in my opinion is true love in its truest form.

After watching “The Time Traveler’s Wife” I realized that we all wait for true love. We all dream and wish for it but sometimes love takes a lot of effort. A lot of times loving breaks all conventions that we human beings are all just bound to adjust for love. They say at one point, we all have to wait. But there’s no denying that waiting is never easy and it’ll never be easy in any situation. But I guess what the story of “The Time Traveler’s Wife” is trying to tell us is that ultimately, SPACE AND TIME IS THE TRUEST TEST FOR TRUE LOVE. And no matter what happens, no matter how long, no matter how painful, your true love will wait for you.