The Adam Project may not be a perfect movie but it boasts some entertaining elements -- such as comedy, action, suspense and romance -- that should please most viewers. However, many time travel movie fans may end up being disappointed, and I can understand that. This sci-fi offering fails to come up to the standards of such favorites as Back to the Future and The Time Machine.  Each of those two movies did their best to present eye-popping special effects within an interesting story. Even the smallest details received close attention. In The Adam Project, you will see action galore, but it’s quite repetitive and a bit fuzzy.

On the plus side, most of the cast members are fun to watch. Ryan Reynolds brings his well-known humor to the role of a frustrated pilot from the future who ends up meeting himself as a troubled preteen (well-played by Walker Scobell). Mark Ruffalo wins us over as the dad who died the year before Reynolds meets his young self. And Zoe Saldana owns the screen as the pilot’s tough wife.

Unfortunately, two wonderful actresses, Jennifer Garner and Catherine Keener, get shortchanged here. Keener plays the villain who is trying to stop the pilot from succeeding in his mission. Too bad she doesn’t look villainous at all. Garner, as the mother of young Adam/big Adam, deserves more camera time.  But she does appear with Reynolds in the film’s best scene, one that involves a heart-tugging few minutes where the mom meets her adult son in a bar and doesn’t recognize him.                   

Is time travel a real true thing?

In movies, yes. It’s exciting.

“The Adam Project” hits all three:

past, present and future. Whee!!!

Adam at 12 and as a man

join together with sci-fi plan.

 They travel back to stop their dad

before he invents something bad.

They have to fight robots a lot

plus a live villain. That’s the plot.

The two Adams make quite a pair.

Actors project emotions rare.   

.

But something bothered me throughout

and filled my mind with nagging doubt.

Two Adam guys resemblance lack.

One’s hair is blond, the other’s black.

That might be picky, but it took me out

of the story, which lost its clout. 

Still, kids should like the action scenes.

All fast-paced like their most fun dreams.  

How serious can a movie about time-traveling robots be? You want it to be cool and fun. --- Christian Bale

(Released by Netflix and rated PG-13 by MPAA.)

 Director: Shawn Levy

Writers: Jonathan Tropper, T.S. Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett