Clockstoppers

Cast:

Jesse Bradford as Zak Gibbs

French Stewart as Dr. Earl Dopler

Paula Garcés as Francesca DeLaCruz

Michael Biehn as Henry Gates

Robin Thomas as Dr. George Gibbs

Jason Winston George as Richard

Linda Kim as Jay

Julia Sweeney as Mom

Lindze Letherman as Kelly

Jeff Ricketts as Officer Meyers

Garikayi Mutambirwa as Meeker

Nicole Kathryn as Sunshine

Dwight Armstrong as Nose-Ring Boy

Rachel Arieff

Caroline Fogarty as Convention Worker

Jodie Milks as Amy

Brad ‘Chip’ Pope as Slacker Eddy

Summary:

For a movie based on one special effects gimmick, Clockstoppers is surprisingly entertaining.

Story:

Zak Gibbs is a typical teenager who is interested in girls, cycling, and making money for a new car. However, he has a strained relationship with his father who is a professor at a local university. He feels that his father gives more attention to his students than him. Little does Zak know that one of his father’s old students, Dr. Dopler, has him secretly helping out on a top-secret device. Dopler has created a watch that speeds up the molecules of the wearer and anything he comes in contact with. To the person wearing the watch, it appears that the world around them has slowed to a barely perceptible crawl.

When Zak accidentally comes into possession of the watch, he and his newfound friend Francesca have fun with it by playing practical jokes and observing the beauty of a frozen world. However, the owners of the watch discover that Dopler has allowed one of the watches to be released and they want it back. Thus begins a cat and mouse game between Zak and the owners to get it back. Things become even more complicated when they kidnap Zak’s Dad to help finish the project.

Clockstoppers is rated PG for action violence and mild language.

What Worked:

Since this movie was a Nickelodeon kids film and it was pretty much based on one special effect, I didn’t have very high hopes for it. Luckily, I was pleasantly surprised. It was actually very entertaining. At times it felt a little like Honey, I Shrunk The Kids while at other times it felt a little like Back to the Future. Both had wacky science and average teens thrown into incredible adventures.

The time freezing effects were a little like the bullet-time effect from The Matrix. However, the creators of Clockstoppers stopped just short of imitating that film. Rather than having their hero dodge bullets, they had him look at water frozen in mid-air and such. It was a pretty cool effect though it has been done many, many times.

I thought the film explored the whole time freezing concept very well. The first time Zak activates the time freezing feature is funny. Of all the things to happen, he encounters a frozen opossum. It’s an odd way to start the adventure, but it was amusing. The movie goes on to show the kids playing pranks, helping out their friends, having a car chase through frozen traffic, and more. The movie also answers the question of what would happen if you activated a second watch while the first was already in effect. Overall I think they did a great job of playing with the different aspects of it.

The actors did a good job in the movie. French Stewart added some much needed comic relief as the wacky scientist and inventor of the watch. Jesse Bradford does a decent job as the teen hero. However, Paula Garcés is the person most guys will be interested in. She’s beautiful and exotic and holds her own in this picture. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of her in future movies. She also has a great Star Trek line that is a tip ‘o the hat to Clockstoppers director Jonathan Frakes.

Overall Clockstoppers is a fun movie that I think both kids and adults will enjoy. I wouldn’t mind seeing a sequel.

What Didn’t Work:

I don’t have many complaints about this film. After all, it’s a kids movie and it’s hard to be overly critical in light of that. But though the film operates by fuzzy, Disney science, it’s still occasionally breaks its own rules. For example, it is pretty well established that people and objects are only put into hyperspeed if they are touching the person wearing the watch when it is activated. However, things don’t always stick to this rule during the story. Zak will run by a tree while he’s in hyperspeed, but it swings normally. Other little things like that happen throughout the film. It’s probably nitpicking, but there you have it.