Clockmaker

_Pubescent kids go back in time to 1890 to save us from going “kablooey”_ A whiz kid’s friend mysteriously goes missing in eccentric Mr. Markham’s apartment, which is filled with clock-like mechanisms. He and an older female friend are compelled to go back to the Victorian era to find him and fix a disruption in the time continuum. Will any of them make it back alive? “Clockmaker” (1998) was later released to DVD as “Timekeeper.” Shot at a studio in Bucharest, Romania, with American leads, it’s a combination of “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and “The Goonies” mixed with the time-travel elements and low production values of Star Trek episodes “The City on the Edge of Forever” and “Time’s Arrow” (the latter a 2-part TNG story). It’s similar in spirit to “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.” In the mayhem of the second half, the kids’ dialogue is a little hard to hear, so I suggest using the subtitles (I have no idea why it wasn’t turned up in the final mix). In any case, this is an entertaining enough flick if you don’t demand the blockbuster standards of “Willy Wonka,” “The Goonies” and “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.” A lot of imagination was used in the colorful sets and concepts despite the low budget. One of the highlights is winsome Katie Johnston as petite blonde Mary Beth Grace. She’s obviously a couple years older than the two boys, which is reminiscent of the protagonists in “The Goonies,” “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” and “In Search of the Castaways." This caused someone to question their friendship, but the answer is simple: They’re kids from the same apartment building, but she’s not exactly best friends with the boys, which is clear at the outset. Despite the lack of blockbuster funds, I’d watch this any day over the lousy “In Search of the Castaways.” It runs 1 hour, 22 minutes. GRADE: B-/C+