Subtitles:

English, Dutch, German, Spanish, none

Extras:

• An Unconventional Love Story (25:55 in HD!)

• The Time Traveler's Wife: Love Beyond Words (21:06 in HD!)

The Time Traveler's Wife is a conventional adaptation of an unconventional novel. That's not necessarily a bad thing - screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin and director Robert Schwentke (Flightplan) impose structure on a story that, in Audrey Niffenegger's long and complex book, cartwheels freely through time. The film version plays like a "best hits" compilation, shoehorning in most of the key events while glossing over subplots and subtleties that are explored in depth on the written page. But that's the way it is with motion picture adaptations and, although this is not the best one, it's more than respectable and provides the romance, humor, and pathos demanded by fans of the genre.

The prominence of "time traveler" in the title might lead the viewer to believe this is a science fiction film, but it's nothing of the sort. At best, the chronological impairment can be considered a plot device - a fantasy conceit employed to enhance the love story's flavor. Ultimately, The Time Traveler's Wife succeeds not because it toys with things like time travel paradoxes (which it does, albeit not mind-bendingly) but because, as in all good romances, we learn to care about the characters and want them to experience happiness with each other.

Extras :

Although surprisingly limited to 2 featurettes these extra features seem adept at conveying some of the pre-production efforts in moving the novel to the screen. An Unconventional Love Story runs 25-minutes and has input from director Schwentke as well as McAdams and Bana's exploration of defining the characters. The Time Traveler's Wife: Love Beyond Words runs just over 20-minutes and deals more directly with bringing the best-selling novel to the screen with input from screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin. There is a second disc - Digital Copy available for use on portable devices.

BOTTOM LINE:
I think this is a pretty good film. I really liked the extra dimension of a love story with the time traveling backdrop. It is very thought-provoking and performances are excellent. I believe the idea was to have the time traveling issues relate as a corollary directly to those people might find in their modern relationships - acceptance, understanding, cherishing time together and the inability to tie each other down. Anyway, the Blu-ray does its job with only some potential niggling flaws. I doubt we're going to see it looking any better and I, do indeed, recommend!