Criticizing this movie is a little like kicking a puppy that has only three legs and one eye, but the folks responsible for Time Changer probably need constructive criticism more than most of the filmmakers I've reviewed.
Russell Carlisle (D. David Morin) is a professor at a bible college in 1890. He's written a new book and would like the school to give it a recommendation but one professor objects. Norris Anderson (Gavin McLeod) complains about Carlisle arguing that morality should be taught even if it can't be taught in the name of Jesus Christ. To Norris, any moral code that does not openly acknowledge the divinity of Jesus is inherently flawed and dangerous. Carlisle and the rest of the faculty disagree, but Norris' objection is enough to prevent the school from recommending the book. With his publisher anxious for that endorsement and the sales it could generate, Carlisle tries to maneuver around Norris but eventually consents to go the old man's home to try and resolve their dispute. At that meeting, Norris reveals that he has a time machine. Yes, a time machine. Don't ask any questions, you just have to go along with it. He sends Carlisle to the year 2000 to show him what the world would be like when morality and Christianity are no longer synonymous. I'll cut things short by just saying that Carlisle discovers a lot of moral turpitude in our time, all of which is shown as coming from a lack of proper commitment to Jesus, and I think you can guess how the movie ends.
If you find the basic details of the plot offensive, rest assured you'll find a whole bunch more repellent about Time Changer. While not concerned much with doctrine or dogma, this film has a very strict view of the proper role of Christianity in both personal and public life. Let me be blunt. This movie is propaganda for a particular approach to Christianity and how that faith should influence every aspect of existence. If you agree with that viewpoint, you might find this film to be perfectly acceptable family entertainment. If you deviate from Time Changer's viewpoint at all, though, you'll be struck by what bad propaganda it is. And by "bad propaganda", I don't mean it's promoting bad ideas or bad values. I mean it's inept and ineffectual as propaganda.
The world of 1890 was more racist, sexist and classist than 21st century Americans can even understand. The folks of that era accepted as normal the sort of virulent prejudices that would not only get you fired from any job today, but would likely get you a punch in the mouth. Yet, that reality is never acknowledged, let alone dealt with. If a person from 1890 really showed up now, at least some of his religious, social, economic and political beliefs would seem stupid and offensive to the most God-fearing Christians in the modern world. Yet this film pretends that while Carlisle may be old fashioned, his every dislike about the future is correct and his every complaint about our time is righteous. By refusing to recognize that there are some things we think and believe in the 21st century that are better than the ideas of the late 19th, this film makes it impossible for anyone to take it seriously unless you already agree with that ludicrous position.
For example, Carlisle goes into a modern classroom and tells the students that if science conflicts with Scripture, they should believe Scripture over scientific evidence. The teacher gets upset with Carlisle for doing so and the film wants to portray the incident as an example of how religion has been banished from American education. But didn't that whole business with Galileo decide once and for all that the Bible isn't a science textbook? The proposal that science should be simply ignored if it contradicts or conflicts with Christian teaching seems like something with which even Sarah Palin would disagree.
Make no mistake, the folks who made Time Changer quite obviously believe they are only well intentioned. This movie is filled with an earnest concern for the welfare of other human beings that appears totally genuine. And it's not as though all of its criticisms of modern behavior and morality are invalid. But unless you think that 1890 America was some sort of utopia of religious thought and deed, you'll find Time Changer's message utterly unpersuasive.
As for its other aspects as film, Time Changer is a low budget work and it shows. The acting is okay and the dialog and plotting are fine, except for two guys who start investigating Carlisle's background, not because it makes sense for them to do it but because the movie needs to manufacture a little dramatic tension. Overall though, the film-making at work here is decent but unexceptional.
Time Changer won't annoy you because it's badly made. However, you might find it laughable or irksome because it's poorly conceived.
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