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Review

Since the debut in 1960 of George Pal's The Time Machine, the first screen adaptation of H.G. Wells' novel, visual effects have improved tenfold. By comparison, the effects in Pal's endearing time-travel adventure appear creaky. But it has one or two things on director Wells' (great-grandson of H.G.) visually impressive but emotionally empty retelling -- like heart, story, and, above all, a sense of wonder. A miscast Pearce plays Alexander, an absent-minded professor whose fiancée is killed, sending him into seclusion. He reappears years later having built a time machine, determined to save her life, but finds history doomed to repeat itself. He heads off into the future determined to find answers for questions he shouldn't be asking. Eight-hundred-thousand years later, he comes across the Eloi, a primitive people ruled by an underground, cannibalistic race. Retaining many plot similarities to the novel and original film, this new version's few changes are not ones for the better. Alexander's sense of purpose is no longer enlightenment, but sullen remorse, which sets a somber tone for the remainder of the film. And what's with Pearce's Fred MacMurray bit? Lacking focus or reason, this new Time Machine is all snazzy on the outside but its interior is quite hollow.