Time and Time Again Movie Loses Himself in Time

From hot tubs to DeLoreans

Looking for a good time

It's not simply the all-time thing to happen to movie titles since Snakes on a Plane; the new comedy Hot Tub Time Machine (opening Friday, March 26) is too the latest in a long line of time travel movies, stretching back from at least the 1940s into (we presume) the distant future.

The new film depicts a group of friends who are transported back to 1986 from the nowadays solar day, thank you to their special hot tub. (Nosotros're yet not sure how the physics work, exactly.) Here, the time travel is played for laughs, just in other fourth dimension travel movies -- typically, scientific discipline-fiction films -- the aim might exist to scare, thrill, or provoke deep thought.

Of course, such films are not always successful. Below, nosotros expect at the best and worst movies featuring time travel, starting with the good.

The best time travel movies

The rules are elementary: Where movies accept Metascores, they must be listed in lodge from highest to lowest. If an older movie is non in Metacritic'south database (and thus does not have a Metascore), we have slotted it where we feel it belongs. We are also forbidden from going back in time and murdering our ain parents.

The 20 Best Time Travel Movies

	Title	Netflix	Yr	Metascore	Users
1	Dorsum to the Future		1985	n/a	n/a
Ways of Travel: A flux capacitor-equipped DeLorean
Arguably the best time travel picture show of them all is Robert Zemeckis' 1985 comedy about an eccentric scientist (Christopher Lloyd) who accidentally sends his young friend (Michael J. Play a trick on) 30 years into the past. A perfect blend of humor and an interesting, self-independent story (naturally, there were two sequels), "Back to the Future" was 1985's highest-grossing moving-picture show.
2	The Terminator		1984	84	8.seven
Means of Travel: Time Displacement Sphere
James Cameron's depression-upkeep archetype introduced 1 of the big screen'southward most iconic sci-fi characters. Time to come governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a cyborg assassinator transported backward in time from a mail-apocalyptic time to come to preclude the nativity of a future rebel leader.
3	Star Expedition IV: The Voyage Abode		1986	n/a	n/a
Means of Travel: A Klingon Bird-of-Prey that slingshots around the Sun
Remember, the even numbered "Star Expedition" movies are the good ones (well, with one major exception), and this fourth installment was the 2nd-best of the agglomeration. The funniest of all the Trek films, "Voyage Home" provided the former Enterprise crew with an unassailable reason to travel back in fourth dimension to 20th century Earth: to save the whales.
iv	The Time Machine [1960]		1960	n/a	n/a
Ways of Travel: A time auto
The best motion-picture show adaptation of H.Yard. Wells' classic novel was this 1960 release from the UK, directed by George Pal. An Oscar-winner for its visual effects, "The Time Machine" traces the journey of a man from Victorian England every bit he visits three world wars (including a nuclear war in the late 1960s) before reaching the very distant future.
5	Time After Fourth dimension		1979	n/a	n/a
Ways of Travel: A time machine
Also inspired by H.G. Wells' "The Time Automobile," the Nicholas Meyer-directed "Time After Time" cleverly uses Wells himself as the protagonist and imagines that the author was able to build a working fourth dimension machine. Simply when Jack the Ripper uses the motorcar to escape to the future -- 1979 San Francisco -- Wells (Malcolm McDowell) follows to track down the killer.
6	Star Trek		2009	83	7.nine
Means of Travel: A black hole propels two ships back in time
J.J. Abrams' commercially-successful reboot of the Star Trek franchise used fourth dimension travel as a fashion to reintroduce old characters without needing to adhere to canon. As a result of intervention from the future, a young Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the original series Enterprise crew will now follow a different timeline through what will no doubt exist a number of sequels, including one coming in 2012.
seven	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban		2004	81	6.half dozen
Means of Travel: Time-turner
While time travel movies by and large autumn nether the heading "science fiction," this third installment in the Harry Potter serial is one of a few examples of a fantasy dealing with such subject area matter. Although time travel is not the major focus of the story, young Hermione does use a magical fourth dimension-turner device both to attend extra classes (something we would non have washed with our fourth dimension machine, thank you) and to go back a few hours in time to save the day.
viii	12 Monkeys		1996	74	8.4
Ways of Travel: A time machine
Terry Gilliam'due south trippy thriller (based on the French brusk "La Jetée") is i of the more thought-provoking entries on this listing, and time travel plays a major role in the film. Bruce Willis plays a criminal who is transported dorsum in time from a post-apocalyptic future in an attempt to prevent the outbreak of a virus that wipes out nearly of the world'southward population.
9	Peggy Sue Got Married		1986	n/a	n/a
Ways of Travel: A fainting spell
A adult female (the Oscar-nominated Kathleen Turner) faints at her 25-year high school reunion, just to wake up back in 1960, during her senior twelvemonth of high school. A rare 1980s hit for director Francis Ford Coppola, this sweet-natured comedy besides starred an odd-voiced Nicolas Cage and a very young Jim Carrey.
10	Time Bandits		1981	n/a	north/a
Means of Travel: A map of infinite and time
The 2d entry for Terry Gilliam on this list was co-written by the managing director with fellow Monty Python alumnus Michael Palin. The PG-rated fantasy follows the fantastical adventures of an 11-year-old boy who, forth with a grouping of dwarves, travels through time and space, visiting such figures as Robin Hood and Napoleon and battling an evil force known as Evil. John Cleese and Sean Connery are amid the stars.
11	Donnie Darko		2001	71	nine.2
Means of Travel: It'due south complicated
For a film that references a (fictional) book called "Philosophy of Time Travel," there isn't a whole lot of bodily time traveling actually done by the motion-picture show'southward characters. Nonetheless, Richard Kelly's confusing cult classic (which is complicated further by the release of an alternate version) is set into motion past the arrival of a falling jet engine from the future. Or is it?
12	Star Trek: Showtime Contact		1996	lxx	9.0
Means of Travel: A Borg-created temporal vortex
The simply decent Star Trek film to feature the "Next Generation" characters, "Start Contact" finds the crew of the Enterprise-E visiting Earth in the distant by (2063) in society to prevent the Borg from irresolute human being history at a key moment in time: Zefram Cochrane's first warp flying.
13	Terminator 2: Judgment 24-hour interval		1991	69	nine.v
Means of Travel: Time Displacement Sphere
Not 1 but two cyborgs are sent dorsum in time from the future in James Cameron's wildly successful sequel. The take hold of, of course, is that this fourth dimension, the Arnold Schwarzenegger model is the good guy, sent past resistance leader John Connor to protect his younger self from assassination by a shapeshifting T-chiliad.
14	Back to the Futurity Part 3		1990	due north/a	north/a
Means of Travel: A flux capacitor-equipped DeLorean plus a flux capacitor-equipped locomotive
"Back to the Hereafter" didn't really need a sequel, so of grade, it got 2. Of the pair, "Part Iii" is easily the more entertaining (and the one with the better reviews), ditching the dorsum-and-forth activity of the second film to settle down 100 years in the past, in the Sometime Due west.
15	Primer		2004	68	7.3
Means of Travel: A time motorcar (aka "the box")
This no-budget sci-fi thriller wowed audiences at Sundance (where it won the Grand Jury Prize) with its thought-provoking and original look at the consequences of time travel. Although too circuitous for some viewers, the pic examines how the lives of ii engineers change (changed? will change?) when they accidentally invent a machine that allows them to travel into the not-too-distant past.
16	Timecrimes (Los Cronocrímenes)		2008	68	eight.0
Means of Travel: A liquid-filled time machine
This low-budget, character-driven Spanish thriller pleased many critics with its intriguing (and refreshingly like shooting fish in a barrel-to-follow) story about a man who travels a few hours dorsum in time and encounters himself.
17	Neb and Ted's Excellent Adventure		1989	44	10.0
Means of Travel: A phone booth
Just a 44? Now that's bogus. Partly attributable to the fact that we just accept a few reviews in our database, and partly because critics didn't fully capeesh its excellence, this classic comedy does indeed have a depression score, but it's not representative of the motion picture's goofy likability and indelible popularity. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter play two slackers who travel through time to go assist with their high schoolhouse history presentation.
18	Escape from the Planet of the Apes		1971	n/a	due north/a
Ways of Travel: A repaired spaceship propelled through time past the shockwave of hereafter Earth's nuclear destruction
By and large regarded as the best of all the "Planet of the Apes" sequels, this third installment is also the nigh thought-provoking of the bunch, dealing not merely with time travel but too a number of social bug, from women's rights to matters of race and class. The picture works virtually as a opposite of the original, with three apes from the future crash-landing on the human-inhabited past Globe of 1973.
nineteen	Timecop		1994	n/a	n/a
Means of Travel: A fourth dimension auto
Okay, so it might not authorize equally a good moving-picture show -- at to the lowest degree, according to conventional notions of good and bad. But on the Jean-Claude Van Damme calibration, this story of a federal agent working for the Fourth dimension Enforcement Committee (which is charged with preventing the employ of time travel for personal gain) is actually quite entertaining, and ranks as the actor's biggest worldwide hit. The film doesn't make any attempt at scientific plausibility, but it does provide a nice preview of what the earth will be like in 2004.
20	Hot Tub Time Automobile		2010	xx	n/a
Means of Travel: A hot tub
It's likewise early to tell if "Hot Tub Fourth dimension Car" really belongs on this listing -- we reserve the right in the futurity to go back to the past and conform its ranking -- but nosotros certainly want to like any movie that has the title "Hot Tub Time Car."

The worst of the agglomeration

If we actually did have a time machine, we'd utilise it to travel dorsum in time and warn everyone to avoid the films on our side by side list: the worst time travel movies Hollywood has created so far. (The list only includes films from the past.)

The twenty Worst Time Travel Movies

	Title	Netflix	Year	Metascore	Users
1	Masters of the Universe		1987	due north/a	north/a
Means of Travel: Catholic key (sometimes mistaken for a Japanese synthesizer)
Aye, that is "Masters of the Universe" as in "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe." Brilliantly released after people no longer cared about the toys, this live-activeness fantasy-adventure was a disquisitional and commercial failure ... though it stands today as the only film in which y'all can come across both Baton Barty and Courteney Cox.
ii	Time Chasers		1994	due north/a	northward/a
Means of Travel: A Commodore 64-equipped airplane
Information technology's a simple rule: If a film appears on Mystery Science Theater 3000, it's officially terrible. (The episode of MST3K, past the mode, is a slap-up 1.) This low-budget film travels (by minor plane!) into the future and the past -- including the American Revolution -- to warn about the perils of evil corporations. When the time car is destroyed at the end, information technology means that many of the film's events never took place. If only there were some way for viewers to become those 90 minutes of their lives dorsum.
3	A Sound of Thunder		2005	24	2.8
Means of Travel: A wormhole
Based on a brusque story by Ray Bradbury, Peter Hyams' motion picture focuses on a group of time tourists who become on a prehistoric hunting expedition, simply to interfere with history. The film is even dumber than that Metascore would propose, had terrible special effects, and was a major flop to boot; reportedly made for shut to $80 million, information technology grossed under $two million in the U.South.
4	Pokemon 4Ever		2002	25	six.half-dozen
Ways of Travel: Magic!
Known in Nihon by the much catchier title "Pocket Monsters the Movie: Celebi A Timeless Encounter," this 4th Pokemon film centers on the newest Pokemon creature (Celebi), who has the power to travel through time. Trust us when we say that information technology's for diehard fans just.
5	Fourth dimension Changer		2002	26	five.3
Means of Travel: A time machine
After a disagreement with a colleague, a Bible professor travels from the 1890s to the early 21st century, where he is shocked to observe that people go divorced and use bad language. Not even "The Love Gunkhole's" Gavin MacLeod tin can salvage the film.
half-dozen	Timeline		2003	28	3.vi
Means of Travel: A wormhole
Based on the novel by Michael Crichton, "Timeline" follows a group of students who travel back in time (cheers to a mysterious corporate invention) to 1357 France to rescue their professor. The dialogue is laughably bad (assuming that you don't fall asleep start), and the movie bombed at the box office.
7	Millennium		1989	n/a	n/a
Means of Travel: A time auto known every bit "the Gate"
Similar the far superior Children of Men, Millennium depicts a bleak hereafter where humankind is no longer able to reproduce. Humanity's solution? Go into the by to abduct fresh humans to repopulate the hereafter. Throw in a romance and a airplane disaster, add Kris Kristofferson and Cheryl Ladd, and mix with some of the most laughably bad furnishings, dialogue, and performances you could ask for, and the issue is an agreeably campy B-movie.
8	Star Expedition Generations		1994	north/a	north/a
Means of Travel: An "energy ribbon" known as the "Nexus"
It'southward bad enough they killed off Kirk. But to exercise and then in such a lackluster motion picture was an insult to Trekkies everywhere. Thanks to the magic of time travel, members of the original cast (but non Spock or Bones) and the Next Generation crew were able to announced in the aforementioned film, including a few non-riveting cooking and horse riding scenes shared by Enterprise captains Kirk and Picard.
9	Freejack		1991	n/a	n/a
Means of Travel: Fourth dimension machines
A cyberpunk motion picture that stars Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, and Anthony Hopkins? What could go wrong? Critics hated this sci-fi thriller nigh "bonejackers" from a future world who traveled back in time to steal bodies for their rich clients seeking immortality.
10	Somewhere in Fourth dimension		1980	29	8.vi
Means of Travel: Self-hypnosis
Actually much more liked now than that Metascore (and the picture show'south box office performance) would indicate, this romance follows a playwright (Christopher Reeve) who wills himself back in time to the year 1912, where he woos an extra (Jane Seymour).
xi	The Butterfly Outcome		2004	30	7.four
Means of Travel: Reading a diary
Critics panned this Ashton Kutcher thriller upon its release, but "The Butterfly Effect" performed well at the box role and has a number of fans to this twenty-four hour period. The film depicts a college student who is able to travel back to his own by and change events that happened to him, although at a considerable price.
12	Black Knight		2001	32	half-dozen.5
Means of Travel: A magical moat
Permit's start by saying it's a Martin Lawrence movie. And we'll finish by saying information technology's a Martin Lawrence moving picture that finds the comedian transported from a present twenty-four hours medieval-themed amusement park to the actual Center Ages. As New York Daily News' Jami Bernard writes, information technology "makes 'Big Momma'southward Firm' look like 'Denizen Kane.'"
13	Returner		2003	36	7.2
Means of Travel: A time portal
This poorly-reviewed Japanese sci-fi title follows a female soldier sent back in fourth dimension from 2084 to preclude an alien invasion in the early 21st century. Though the film liberally (and manifestly) borrows from many amend movies, it does feature some decent activeness sequences.
14	Simply Visiting		2001	38	nine.0
Means of Travel: A wizard's magical potion
A remake of the 1993 French comedy "Les Visiteurs," "Just Visiting" finds a 12th century French count (Jean Reno) transported to nowadays-day Chicago. Simply he must discover a manner back to his ain time to ensure that Christina Applegate is born. If you want to watch this kind of matter, stick with the far superior French original.
15	The Time Machine [2002]		2002	42	vi.1
Means of Travel: A fourth dimension machine
Although it's non completely terrible, this 2002 accommodation of H.G. Wells' novel falls far short of the 1960 film version. Among other changes to the original story, the picture show sets the opening scenes in American rather than England, even though the protagonist is played by Guy Pearce.
16	Lost in Space		1998	42	8.0
Means of Travel: A human being-made fourth dimension bubble
William Hurt and Mimi Rogers star in this big-screen adaptation of the 1960s sci-fi TV series. Heavy on effects simply short on imagination, charm, or a coherent story (which, yeah, includes a detour into time travel), the film performed poorly plenty that a planned sequel was nixed.
17	Southland Tales		2007	44	6.ane
Means of Travel: A hole in the fabric of space and time caused by "Fluid Karma" (we think)
A oftentimes (simply non always) reviled film from Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly, this muddled mess of a picture show (It's a one-act! It's a drama! It's a musical! It'due south a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller!) was doomed from the start, since its bandage features not only Dwayne "The Stone" Johnson and Sarah Michelle Gellar, but likewise Mandy Moore, Justin Timberlake (although he does become to sing), and Bai Ling.
eighteen	Timerider: The Risk of Lyle Swann		1982	n/a	n/a
Means of Travel: A maser velocity acceleration field
Written by Michael Nesmith of Monkees fame, "Timerider" sends a dirt bike racer back in time to the year 1877, where he battles a gang of criminals and becomes his own corking-great-grandfather. Although the motion picture has a following, there are few fans of the DVD version, which swaps out the original bloody finale with something tamer.
xix	Kate & Leopold		2001	44	half-dozen.7
Means of Travel: A time portal
James Mangold'south romantic one-act stars Hugh Jackman as a 19th century knuckles who winds up in 21st century New York, where he falls for Million Ryan. Despite the time travel twist, critics found the moving-picture show all too conventional.
20	Back to the Future Role II		1989	xx	n/a
Means of Travel: A flux capacitor-equipped DeLorean
Anyone who thought that the get-go "Dorsum to the Hereafter" didn't accept enough time travel may take been pleased with this sequel, which jumps ahead to 2015 and dorsum over again to 1955 (with a finish at an alternate version of 1985 for practiced measure). There's mode too much convoluted story and manner too little amuse and Crispin Glover, although one of those flaws would be rectified in the third and final film.

But await, at that place'south more

Which time travel films didn't brand the cut for all-time or worst? Nosotros round up a few of the remainders below, and look at some related films that play with time but don't quite depict fourth dimension travel.

Fifty-fifty More Time Travel Movies

Title	Year	Metascore	Users
Terminator iii: Ascension of the Machines	2003	66	six.5
Austin Powers in Goldmember	2002	62	6.6
See the Robinsons	2007	61	6.6
Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey	1991	sixty	8.3
Happy Accidents	2001	60	viii.8
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	1999	59	7.one
Deja Vu	2006	59	4.seven
The Terminal Mimzy	2007	59	five.5
A time-traveling stuffed creature comes from the hereafter to save the earth
Army of Darkness	1993	57	ix.half-dozen
Sam Raimi's horror-comedy -- the 3rd Evil Dead movie -- is a cult classic
The Forbidden Kingdom	2008	57	7.7
The Lake House	2006	52	7.seven
Planet of the Apes [2001]	2001	50	5.3
Tim Burton's remake makes major changes to the story (including the twist ending), and likewise features more time travel, acquired here by electromagnetic storms.
The Time Traveler's Wife	2009	47	7.0
Click	2006	45	7.one
Disney's The Kid	2000	45	5.0
The Jacket	2005	44	7.vi
Additional films non in Metacritic's database:
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur'southward Courtroom	1949	n/a	north/a
One of several adaptations of Mark Twain's time travel novel, this is the only one that'south a Bing Crosby musical
The Terminal Countdown	1980	northward/a	n/a
An aircraft carrier travels dorsum in time from 1980 to the attack on Pearl Harbor
Flight of the Navigator	1986	n/a	n/a
In this Disney adventure, a young boy is abducted by an alien spaceship and travels through fourth dimension and space with a robot that sounds like Pee-Wee Herman
My Scientific discipline Project	1985	northward/a	n/a
A kid uses the engine from an alien spacecraft as his scientific discipline project to impress instructor Dennis Hopper, warping time in the process
The Philadelphia Experiment	1984	north/a	n/a
Two Navy sailors are subjected to an experiment which really sends them 41 years into the futurity
Spirit of '76	1990	due north/a	n/a
"Sprit of '76" is to the 1970s what "Hot Tub Time Auto" is to the 1980s: a featherbrained fourth dimension travel comedy filled with flow-specific jokes
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Three	1993	n/a	n/a
Definitely a candidate for our worst time travel movies list, the third TMNT film features a lot of time travel in its convoluted plot
Timescape [aka M Tour: Disaster in Time]	1992	due north/a	n/a
A small-town widower encounters a group of tourists from the futurity who like to visit disasters
Trancers	1985	north/a	n/a
Then semi-popular that it spawned many direct-to-video sequels, this sci-fi moving picture depicts a globe where a drug allows people to travel back in time to inhabit the body of an ancestor
Unidentified Flying Oddball [aka The Spaceman and King Arthur]	1979	n/a	n/a
Disney's kid-friendly adaptation of Mark Twain'south "A Connecticut Yankee in Rex Arthur's Court" makes the hero an astronaut, and gives him an android companion
Warlock	1989	north/a	north/a
There's no fourth dimension machine hither; instead, Satan enables the evil Warlock to escape from 1691 to 20th century Los Angeles

Not Quite Fourth dimension Travel, Just Close

Title	Twelvemonth	Metascore	Users
Superman: The Picture	1978	88	7.ii
Superman undoes a few minutes of time by flying really fast around the World
Groundhog Day	1993	72	nine.7
Bill Murray's cranky weatherman doesn't travel in time, but he does re-live the same day over and over again, much to our benefit
Pleasantville	1998	71	eight.6
Two teens are magically transported not to the existent 1950s, but to Tv set's version of them
Galaxy Quest	1999	70	8.one
In this surprisingly expert Star Trek spoof, a device transports the entire universe back in time by precisely xiii seconds.
Frequency	2000	67	eight.ii
No one travels through time in this clever thriller, merely a ham radio allows communications between a son in 1999 and his male parent in 1969, and, in the process, the hereafter is changed
Idiocracy	2006	64	7.half dozen
Suspended animation -- non time travel -- is the reason that 2 average people suddenly find themselves 500 years into an incredibly stupid future
xiii Going on 30	2004	57	6.1
A teenage girl doesn't travel through fourth dimension, precisely -- merely she suddenly wakes upward equally a 30-year-one-time woman. Think of it as "Freaky Friday" without the second swap
Clockstoppers	2002	40	five.ane
A group of kids utilize "Hypertime" technology to stop time, not travel through it
Additional films non in Metacritic's database:
Planet of the Apes	1968	due north/a	north/a
While it's gear up in the distant future, the travel is through space, non time; the astronauts discover themselves in 3978 because of the furnishings of moving at well-nigh-light speed

What do you think?

What are your favorite and least favorite time travel movies? Allow u.s. know in the comments section below.

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Source: https://www.metacritic.com/feature/the-best-and-worst-time-travel-movies

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