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Clockstoppers

2002, Movie, PG, 93 mins

Clockstoppers: Review

CLOCKSTOPPERS
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A disaffected teen bonds with his dad and saves the world in this vapid sci-fi/action picture aimed at tweens. High school slacker Zak Gibbs (Jesse Bradford) thinks his father (Robin Thomas), a physics professor, cares more for his science geeks than his own kids. Jesse's been saving to buy a car, but Dad's more interested in the gizmo that former student Earl Dopler (French Stewart) just sent him: It looks like a watch, but it's really a "particle accelerator" that speeds up the wearer's metabolism so much that the surrounding world seems to stand still: Think DC superhero The Flash. While Dad's off at a science convention, Zak accidentally gets his hands on the watch and discovers its cool capabilities. But as Zak, his pal Meeker (Garikayi Mutambirwa) and Zak's new honey, Francesca De La Cruz (Paula Garces), are horsing around in "hypertime," a team of rogue NSA operatives led by the sinister Agent Gates (Michael Biehn) is looking for the watch. Various complications later, the NSA has kidnapped Professor Gibbs and is forcing him to complete the hypertime research project Dopler started, so they can exploit its military implications. And if it weren't for those darn kids, they would have gotten away with it, too! Good-natured, grossout gag-free (the movie's sole bodily function joke involves a peeing pup), free of smarmy sexual innuendo and pumped up with positive messages about family love and loyalty, this movie seeks to reclaim the family-friendly territory once ruled by live-action Disney films like THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES (1970) and THE APPLE DUMPLING GANG (1975) and is aimed squarely at eight- to 11-year-olds whose parents still exercise considerable control over their movie viewing. Although it looks like an action thriller with a sci-fi twist, the bad guys aren't scary (Biehn's soul patch notwithstanding), the sci-fi element is silly and the action is limited to some extreme bike riding and computer-generated zipping around. It's perfectly harmless and wholesome (though seriously, what teenage boy on a first date wouldn't take advantage of this hypertime thing to steal a kiss — at least — from his dream girl?), if a little bland, even for youngsters. And can we call a moratorium, please, on movies about pampered kids with a lot of free time in which to concoct guilt trips to lay on their hard-working parents? leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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