5 Must See Time Travel Movies

The idea of time travel has a way of sparking the imagination and it is no wonder that watching time travel movies, in part, satisfies us. Whether the movie is serious in nature (like "The Time Machine") or is goofy (such as "Army of Darkness"), most everyone loves a good time traveling movie. The fact Hollywood is still making movies involving time travel is a testament to their popularity.

There are some criteria in order for a movie to be considered a time travel movie. For example, the movies main plot must include time travel and characters should actually move through time. There are certain movies that could very well be included as time travel movies, but because their plot doesn't center on time travel, they're excluded from most lists, including mine.

5 Must See Time Travel Movies:

Back to the Future (1985) - What do you get when you cross a teenage boy, a souped up car, and speed? Time travel, baby! I first saw "Back to the Future" in the theater and fell in love with the movie instantly. It was the best thing to come along since parachute pants!

Teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) flees the Libyan Nationalists as they bear down on him and Doc Brown (Christopher Loyd) in a mall parking lot. Doc Brown is gunned down and Marty is hauling it in a plutonium-powered DeLorean. When the speedometer reaches 88 mph, the car disappears, leaving behind a set of fiery tire tracks.

Marty crashes into 1955 and soon runs into his much younger parents, George and Lorraine (Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson) - unfortunately, his mother develops something of an infatuation with Marty and this puts not only his own life at risk, but that of his brother and sister. If his parents don't meet and fall in love, their children will have never existed.

Marty must find Doc Brown in 1955 if he's to have any chance at returning to 1985. He must also find a way to get his parents to meet and fall in love, though Biff has plans of his own.

The Time Machine (2002) is another really good movie about time travel, though this time, it involves a man named Alexander Hartdegen (Guy Pearce) who is trying to run from his present when his fiancé is killed in a park. He returns home and begins working on a time machine. When he finishes, four years has gone by. Going back in time, he tries to prevent her death but soon realizes that no matter what he does, she is destined to die.

Alexander then sets his time machine for various times in the future until he reaches the year A.D. 802, 701. He finds that humanity is in an entirely different state; their homes are built in the side of a cliff, and the Eloi are prey to the Morlocks who live underground. Alexander finds love in this time in a beautiful Eloi woman named Mara (Samantha Mumba), and must fight Uber-Morlock (Jeremy Irons) in order to save Mara after she is taken.

"The Time Machine" is based on H.G. Well's 1895 novel of the same name.

Time After Time (1979) finds H.G. Wells (Malcom McDowell) hot on the heels of Dr. John Leslie Stevenson (David Warner), aka Jack the Ripper, when he takes off in a time machine to escape apprehension in 1893 and lands in San Francisco circa 1979, where Stevenson continues his murderous ways and Wells finds the future far from being the Utopia he had imagined it would be.

Wells holds a master key to the time machine and Stevenson wants it. He must have the key in order to travel to other times and continue killing. In the process, he plans to strand Wells in 1979, which would prevent him from following Stevenson.

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009) - Henry DeTamble's (Eric Bana) ability to travel through time began when he was five years old, the result of a chromosome mutation and not a time machine. Henry has no control over when it will happen or where he'll end up.

As an adult, he "meets" and marries Clare (Rachel McAdams) - though she has known an older Henry all her life and knows he's a time traveler. They love each other and Clare deals with Henry disappearing and appearing in different stages of his life, though she realizes she has never seen him past the age of 40 and wonders if it's because he died. This is a really sweet love story with a very touching ending.

Army of Darkness (1992) - This movie is just plain goofy. That's why I love it! This movie combines comedy, horror, and time travel all into one.

Ash Williams (Bruce Campbell) is a discount store employee who has been transported back in time to Medieval England. Mistaken as an agent for Duke Henry, Ash is taken prisoner and thrown into a pit where he has it out with a Deadite. Coming out victorious, he is given back his trusty chainsaw and gun.

Ash then finds himself in some pretty hairy predicaments as he finally finds the Necronomicon, a book that will help him return to his own time - though he forgets the magic words that will allow him to safely remove the book. Removing it without the right words causes the dead to rise and Ash is seen making tracks to the castle.

Ash does battle against the Army of Darkness composed of the Deadites, and uses some nifty scientific knowledge from some books he has in the trunk of his car, and so much more! This movie has a lot of action in it and is just plain fun to watch.

The great thing about current time travel movies - that is, those made in the last 10 years or so - is the ability of studios to use their magic to make the experience more realistic, which is awesome! Who doesn't like a movie that just feels real? I expect that these kinds of movies will continue to only get better with time. 3-D time travel movie anyone?

Sources:
Personal Experience - Time Travel Movie Buff
The Time Traveler's Wife (2009 - Synopsis, IMDb