Clockmaker

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.

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+

Well nobody else has commented on it so I might as well. This movie is just plain annoying. The camera swoops and dives, the characters are stupid, and the plot is stupid. Not to mention the very un-special effects. I won't recount this movie, but I will warn you to avoid it. Unless, like me, you are a fan of crap cinema, don't even think about it. If you are, than at least have a couple of friends over and make fun of it.

Found this on Amazon Prime and sat down to watch it with the kids. They gave up before it was half way through. A combination of cheap special effects, low production values, attrocious acting (mostly from the adult cast) and a convoluted yet boring plot make this one of the worst family films ever. Amazon seem to have a large collection of this sort of thing in their vaults. Where do they find them and why do they bother looking??? Do your kids a favour and give this a big miss.

Three slum kids snoop in apartment of eccentric clockmaker neighbor and manage to screw up the space-time continuum, so they have to go back in time to 19th century and set things right. Basic premise, that a computer manual accidentally lost in 1880 would lead to a premature electronic revolution and the triumph of fascism, seems more than slightly far-fetched. (If you lost a pocket calculator among a group of Neandertals, would they invent double-entry bookkeeping?) Filmed in Bucharest, with North American leads. Heroine Katie Johnston looks about 15 but quite mature to be hanging around with the two 12-ish boys, but will certainly give younger male SF fans something to check out. Written by frequent Full Moon scripter Benjamin Carr.