O Relojoeiro

A whiz kid's friend mysteriously goes missing in eccentric Mr. Markham's apartment, which is filled with clock-like mechanisms. He and an older female friend are compelled to go back to the Victorian era to find him and fix a disruption in the time continuum. Will any of them make it back alive?

"Clockmaker" (1998) was later released to DVD as "Timekeeper." Shot at a studio in Bucharest, Romania, with American leads, it's a combination of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and "The Goonies" mixed with the time-travel elements and low production values of Star Trek episodes "The City on the Edge of Forever" and "Time's Arrow" (the latter a 2-part TNG story). It's similar in spirit to "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids."

In the mayhem of the second half, the kids' dialogue is a little hard to hear, so I suggest using the subtitles (I have no idea why it wasn't turned up in the final mix). In any case, this is an entertaining enough flick if you don't demand the blockbuster standards of "Willy Wonka," "The Goonies" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." A lot of imagination was used in the colorful sets and concepts despite the low budget.

One of the highlights is winsome Katie Johnston as petite blonde Mary Beth Grace. She's obviously a couple years older than the two boys, which is reminiscent of the protagonists in "The Goonies," "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and "In Search of the Castaways." This caused someone to question their friendship, but the answer is simple: They're kids from the same apartment building, but she's not exactly best friends with the boys, which is clear at the outset.

Despite the lack of blockbuster funds, I'd watch this any day over the lousy "In Search of the Castaways."

It runs 1 hour, 22 minutes.

GRADE: B-/C+

I just rented this from Redbox. I love it when they find obscure moves from 10 or more years ago to add to the bunch.

Noooo, this is not a great movie. But considering the budget, it's acceptable. One of those Afterschool Specials.

It teaches good lessons for KIDS and kids may not be the ones reviewing it. I am over 50, but can see the wisdom over substance.

Don't be so nosy, don't touch stuff that is not yours, keep your wits about you and use your noggin to get out of the mess you caused.

Just make sure you watch it with your Dr. Who glasses on. LMAO.

Have fun!

My second made-for-kids shot-in-Romania slice of junk following on from LITTLE GHOST. This one's another straight-to-video effort about a couple of kids who get involved with a weird old man who just so happens to have a time machine in his apartment. What unfolds is an adventure in which the kids run around a lot while the viewer suffers the effects that only a very poor and dated production can bring.

Nothing screams dated like a film made in the late 1990s and indeed CLOCKMAKERS is a very dated film. The cheesy CGI effects probably date it the worst, but the mannered acting and exaggerated performances really hurt it too. At least LITTLE GHOST was fun in a cheesy, CASPER rip-off kind of way, whereas CLOCKMAKERS is just inane. Attempts to bring to life the 19th century are quite woeful and overall this is on par with a cheap TV episode of a long forgotten kid's show. I notice once again a link to Full Moon Entertainment with writer Neal Marshall Stevens (here hiding under a pseudonym) contributing the script.

Clockmaker. More like Crapmaker.

This is TRULY awful. I'm all for undemanding fun for kids and adults alike but please, this would insult the intelligence of a two year old.

Low production budgets, fine. Brain dead script not fine.

There is so much wrong with this film that it's impossible to point out individual flaws.

But if I have to then why if computers were invented years early does everything look so bloody awful, they obviously didn't have any CAD programs.

Also a computer manual doesn't tell you how to make micro chips or capacitors etc etc.

Give a chimp a pocket watch and he won't go on to invent an i-pod. Complete crap.

Do not spend anytime watching this dreck.

You have been warned...

This movie. I have no words. Its very amateur. The camera angles are bad. The obvious use of green screen EVERYWHERE is obvious. And where it was used, it was poorly done. The story line made zero sense. Nothing was explained. Many times the music and effects over powered the voices of the actors. The acting was less than spectacular. It was very over done and the script was poorly written. Half the things the dude said didn't make any sense to me or my mother whatsoever. All in all, it was a very unappealing movie. I mean, If you like watching bad movies and pointing all the bad things out, by all means, have at it. But to me, it was excruciatingly painful. And i love pointing things out. SO yeah. Avoid this movie at all costs. You have been warned.