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Clockstoppers
Paramount Pictures

Clockstoppers reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 40 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
5.3 out of 10
based on 24 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 9 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG for action violence and mild language

Starring Jesse Bradford, French Stewart, Paula Garcés, Michael Biehn, Robin Thomas, Jason Winston George, Linda Kim, and Julia Sweeney

When Zak (Bradford) discovers a high-tech watch that speeds up his body's molecules so that the rest of the world seems frozen in time, it's like having the ultimate super power -- until he winds up in a true race against time! (Nickelodeon)


GENRE(S): Sci-fi  
WRITTEN BY: Rob Hedden (also story)
J. David Stem (also story)
David N. Weiss (also story)
Andy Hedden (story)
 
DIRECTED BY: Jonathan Frakes  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: August 13, 2002 
Video: August 13, 2002 
Theatrical: March 29, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 93 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

70
Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart
Exceptionally user-friendly for the technologically challenged among us and rides over its less inspired patches on a wave of cheeky humor.
Read Full Review
63
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The movie has been produced by Nickelodeon, and will no doubt satisfy its intended audience enormously. It does not cross over into the post-Nickelodeon universe.
Read Full Review
63
New York Post Jonathan Foreman
They may not have made another "Back to the Future," but to their credit, the makers of Clockstoppers don't patronize or underestimate their pre-teen audience nearly as much as has become customary.
Read Full Review
60
The New York Times Dave Kehr
A competent, unpretentious entertainment destined to fill the after-school slot at shopping mall theaters across the country.
Read Full Review
50
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
To be fair, Clockstoppers isn't a bad film, merely bereft of creativity and personality.
Read Full Review
50
LA Weekly Mark Olsen
Intermittently fun, but mostly just efficiently passable.
Read Full Review
50
Village Voice Michael Atkinson
If I were 13, I might be sufficiently entranced by the movie's bicycle stunts (down stairs! across countertops!) and wouldn't be wondering why ideas for science fiction films haven't progressed very far from "Star Trek's" first seasons all those decades ago.
Read Full Review
50
USA Today Claudia Puig
Tries and winds up with a pleasant, if forgettable, romp of a film.
Read Full Review
50
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
After the first hour, it starts to convince you that time really can stand still.
50
Boston Globe Loren King
The film doesn't have enough innovation or pizazz to attract teenagers, and it lacks the novel charm that made ''Spy Kids'' a surprising winner with both adults and younger audiences.
Read Full Review
50
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
This moves back and forth between slightly clever and dopey or silly, kept vaguely watchable by the charming leads.
Read Full Review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
There's a scientific law to be discerned here that producers would be well to heed: Mediocre movies start to drag as soon as the action speeds up; when the explosions start, they fall to pieces.
Read Full Review
50
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
The result is mixed bag, an intermittently pleasing but mostly routine effort.
Read Full Review
40
Salon.com Damien Cave
What Clockstoppers achieves in acting and decent special effects, it undermines with weak dialogue and directing. The movie isn't bad; it just makes you wish that certain scenes could be hypertimed into oblivion.
Read Full Review
40
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
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.
Read Full Review
40
Variety Robert Koehler
A blandly conceived youth adventure lacking zing or style.
Read Full Review
40
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Botches what could be the most mischievous power since Scott Baio's telekinesis in the 1982 comedy "Zapped!": a wristwatch that speeds up time for the user until the rest of the world seems to be standing still.
Read Full Review
40
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Benign but forgettable sci-fi diversion.
Read Full Review
40
Austin Chronicle Russell Smith
Pack the kids off to the multiplex with an easy conscience and forgiving critical sensibility.
Read Full Review
38
Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder
With Clockstoppers, Frakes hobbles along with a high-concept film that doesn't live up to its potential.
Read Full Review
25
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Not enough to keep Clockstoppers from turning viewers into clock-watchers.
20
Film Threat Eric Campos
If I had the ability to engage in hyper-time, I would’ve ran up to the box office, snatched my money and left.
Read Full Review
20
New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson
Its most redeeming quality is that it's so inoffensive parents can feel OK about taking kids.
Read Full Review
16
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Stops time, all right -- it stretches 94 minutes into something that begins to feel like infinity.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 5.3 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Guy! gave it a2:
A perfectly good idea, but sadly wasted. This movie is like a matrix movie intended for 4-year-olds.

Michael F gave it a1:
Good premise, and intriguing idea. Terrible movie.

Anna S. (spriggangirl) gave it a 10:
An amazing movie with the matrix and clock tower put together. The no.1 movie in the house!!!!

A movie fan gave it a 5:
Had some thrills at the beginning, but completely DRAGGED ON later.

Irene B. gave it a 9:
It's called 'fun and entertainment'. jesse bradford shines.

Simpson S. gave it an 8:
A good movie, not great but not bad at all. A fun movie. Definitely worth seeing in theaters. Better than most other movies comming out.

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