Movie Review: The Time Traveler's Wife

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to travel through time either into the past or into the future? I often wonder what I will be doing in the future, things like working at the same job, meeting Mr. Right, and seeing my children all grown up and out on their own. Then I think back into the past, not just my life but even before I was born, and wonder what it was like to live during the different time periods.

Released in August 2009, The Time Traveler's Wife is the story of a man who travels through time while at the same time falls in love with a woman. The movie is rated PG-13 for thematic elements, brief disturbing images, nudity, and sexuality.

Set in present day, Henry DeTamble, played by Eric Bana, is a special collections librarian and a time traveler. As a time traveler, Henry is not able to control the moment when he travels into the future or back into the past. He is also not able to control where he goes. In the library he meets Clare Abshire, portrayed by Rachel McAdams. She claims to already know Henry - that she has known him since she was six years old. The two have dinner together at one of Henry's favorite places, and soon they fall in love and eventually marry.

While the years are passing by, Henry is continually gone leaving Clare to fend for herself quite often. Clare is at times resentful of the fact that Henry is not always there when she needs him. Henry gains knowledge of the future and what it holds; however, this knowledge begins causing problems for the couple.

With The Time Traveler's Wife I am not quite sure what I expected, but what I saw wasn't what I had pictured in my mind. I was thinking this movie would be more like H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, a novel about a man who travels back in time via a machine. This movie wasn't like that at all.

Finally, I found it hard at times to keep up with the story. The plot jumps around so much that I was confused and wasn't sure whether Henry was in present day or whether he was time traveling. You must really follow along and stay focused in order to know what time frame he is in. If you can understand all of that, The Time Traveler's Wife isn't a bad little love story.