Jason (Sofian Oleniuk) has been living with his uncle Brett (Nathaniel Amranian) since his parents disappeared in a car accident. Convinced that they are still alive, the boy packs his things and goes looking for them. On his way, he encounters an alien and finds himself inadvertently trapped inside said alien’s ship, leaving the latter outside. On board is Lara (Lola Rossignol-Arts), a young human with whom he flies off to the distant past, at the time of the Cretaceous.
Written and directed by Montrealer Aristomenis Tsirbas, Timescape (Back to dinosaurs in its French version) offers itself as an assemblage of elements which may at first sight arouse the interest of thrill seekers. Time machine, carnivorous dinosaurs, interstellar travel, small “intelligent multi-assistant” robot that accompanies the two heroes, all against the backdrop of a race against time. But these elements gathered here are rather deployed in an (over)abundance of clichés.
Top: a blue laser that causes amnesia; giant carnivorous plants; the constant threat of dinosaurs; a spherical flying saucer equipped with several control panels, the interior of which resembles the one piloted by the christmas martian (a classic of Quebec youth cinema released in 1971); and not the least, this humanoid extraterrestrial with the big black eyes already represented a thousand times on our screens.
The two heroes are rather agreed: young geek brave and resourceful. Jason is passionate about dinosaurs, and Lara, we learn, is from the future. Moreover, we will know very little about it, except that money no longer exists there, neither do illnesses, that energy is unlimited there and that, “even more importantly, everyone is free to exercise their right more fundamental, that of realizing its full potential”, explains Lara before Jason returns to his time.
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The scenario, predictable and moralizing, still ensures a steady pace and constantly maintained by new threats coming to disrupt the quest of the two heroes. Among the pitfalls encountered, there is, unsurprisingly, the breakage of the ship which prevents the characters from getting back on the road and returning home.
A special effects specialist, having notably worked with James Cameron on titanicon My Favorite Martian or on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Tsirbas gives himself here to his heart’s content in paintings that are often successful. We need only think of this beginning during which the camera, in a sequence shot, crosses the universe and its galaxies, then twirls around until it stops on an image of the Earth, a small blue planet illuminated on one side by the Sun and on the other by artificial lights. You don’t need 3D to feel the movement.
The finale, which first offers a low-angle shot of the asteroid that will cause the destruction of the dinosaurs, then another – this time from above – of Earth and this immense cloud of smoke visible from space, almost makes us forget all the faults of this large-scale film.