I never got round to seeing The Time Machine during its initial release. The marketing at the time placed a lot of significance upon the fact that the director, Simon Wells, was H G Wells grandson. This made me somewhat suspicious because apart from novelty value, this really has no bearing on the movie in any real capacity. Finally having finally watched the film, my immediate conclusion is that it falls between two stools. The Time Machine starts as a romantic drama and then later on tries to re-assert itself as an action driven adventure. Unfortunately it does not commit fully to either, resulting in a rather odd, melancholy film.