Project Almanac showed us what would happen if a bunch of wildly irresponsible kids got a hold of a time machine… Except we’ve seen it before, a lot, and Spy Kids: All the Time in the World notwithstanding, a lot of these time travel movies are super good.
Time travel can be a bumpy ride, especially when you’re not old enough to legally rent a car, which is why everyone from Bill and Ted to Harry and Hermione find themselves piling on the paradoxical predicaments once they start turning back the clock. Fire up the flux capacitor and recall ten of the best youth-oriented time travel movies of all-time.
Hit Full Screen to read each entry!
The 10 Best Youth-Driven Time Travel Movies
-
Time Bandits (1981)
Terry Gilliam's winning sci-fi fantasy is a perfect dose of his off-kilter sensibilities filtered through the eyes of 11-year-old protagonist Kevin (Craig Warnock), who teams up with six dwarves using a map of the universe to steal valuables from famous historical figures. Littered with amazing cameos (John Cleese as Robin Hood, Sean Connery as Agamemnon, Ian Holm as Napoleon), Time Bandits boasts perhaps the most insane ending for a family movie ever conceived. "Mom! Dad! It's evil! Don't touch it!"
-
Back to the Future (1985)
Even if Parts II and III didn't exist, the original Back to the Future stands as a singular storytelling achievement, an iconic time travel tale that is in itself a Swiss watch of screenwriting. Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis spent five years crafting every nuance of Marty McFly's journey back to help his parents fall in love at the High School dance, and the oedipal nightmare that ensues is the type of project that would never get the greenlight today despite being one of the most successful movies of all-time.
-
My Science Project (1985)
This dud came out amid a maelstrom of nerdy sci-fi comedies (Back to the Future, Real Genius, Weird Science), yet its central conceit of an alien engine that creates time warps around the user makes for some inventive sequences. In what other movie can you have Vietnam vets, future mutants and a T-Rex roaming through the halls of a High School? Future director John Stockwell (Crazy/Beautiful, Blue Crush) plays the lead, while Dennis Hopper goes method as the burnout ex-hippie weirdo teacher.
-
Flight of the Navigator (1986)
What kid worth his/her salt has never dreamt of having their own bonafide spaceship? David Freeman (Joey Cramer) gets just such a chance after being abducted by aliens who fill his brain with star charts and then need said charts to fly back home. (Did we mention there's some cute puppets on board the ship as well?) The problem is David's been gone so many light years that he missed eight years of life on Earth in what seemed like only a few hours. Can he get back to 1978 before some jerk spoils The Empire Strikes Back for him? Probably!
-
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988)
"It must be God's city, there's so much light!" Likely the least-known film on our list, this is the movie that helped put Vincent Ward (What Dreams May Come) on the map, and no wonder seeing as how it's a visual marvel. It concerns a boy named Griffin (Hamish McFarlane) in plague-era 14th century England whose visions lead a group of townsfolk through a tunnel and miraculously into 20th century New Zealand. Like The Wizard of Oz before it, the film makes a stunning leap from black & white to color upon entering the modern world, boasting impressive, Pieter Bruegel-inspired visuals.
-
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
On paper, this movie seems to be shamelessly melding elements of Time Bandits and Back to the Future with a little Fast Times at Ridgemont High thrown in for good measure. However, the winning chemistry of Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as the title doltish duo gives this cult favorite an undeniable charm. The late, great George Carlin shines as Rufus, a guru from the future sent to help Bill and Ted collect historical figures for a high school report.
-
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
James Cameron's first Terminator created the perfect embodiment of relentless evil in the form of Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800, then upped the ante by making that very killer into the hero of part 2. Bad guys turning good is familiar territory for any Marvel Comics fan, yet making the ultimate sociopath robot the protector of pint-sized John Connor (Edward Furlong) took serious chutzpah. It looks like Terminator Genisys will attempt to call back to the first two (i.e. the best) entries in the franchise, but the haunting father-son dynamic in this film couldn't be duplicated.
-
Donnie Darko (2001)
Richard Kelly boldly announced himself as a filmmaker with this genre-defying sci-fi teen horror romance in which a depressed private school loner named Donnie (a star-making performance by Jake Gyllenhaal) explores the metaphysics of time travel. Oh, and there's a ghost in a bunny costume and a jet engine that falls from the sky, and that's just for starters in this deranged Möbius strip of a movie.
-
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
The Harry Potter movies arguably reached their zenith when visionary Alfonso Cuarón injected a sense of vigor into the proceedings, allowing the camera to soar and the hormones to rage as our Hogwarts heroes reached puberty. A third act rescue mission has Harry and Hermione using a special time turner necklace that allows them (and us) to observe previously seen events from a new vantage point, which makes for some clever twists.
-
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)
Ostensibly an adventure in time travel, this recent Japanese anime is a more low-key comedic romp than those who've been weaned on Akira and tentacle hentai might expect. It concerns a clumsy teen schoolgirl who discovers an innate ability to jump backwards in time to correct mistakes and social faux pas she's made, only to recognize the unintended consequences of altering events. This is a genuinely moving meditation on the nature of causality.
