Review: Time Hoppers: The Silk Road's heart is in the right place, even if nothing else is

Time Hoppers: The Silk Road is being touted as the first Muslim animated movie to get a nationwide theatrical release in the US, which is a big deal. The film is part of multi-media franchise that seeks to increase representation for kids who don't normally see themselves reflected on screen. This is obviously a big issue. So much of the media that comes out in the US with Muslim characters depicts them as terrorists or vague background characters to add color to the heroic doings of (usually) US military personnel. 

This is the first feature film from Milo Productions, so it's probably not surprising that it's quite rough around the edges. And within the edges, too. Time Hoppers lacks the visual and aural polish you want from a movie, and the writing is lacking, as well. It's a tough sit. But I found myself grateful that it exists, and that I was getting a chance to see it in the theater, which was pretty packed.

And obviously, I'm not the target demographic for the movie. And based on how quiet and attentive all the kids were in the theater, I think Time Hoppers works quite well for the kids who the filmmakers made the movie for. So I hope they count that as a big win.

But, this is a review, so I can't pretend everything is rosy and dandy here, however well-intentioned this movie is.

From the jump, Time Hoppers is pretty fast-paced. It doesn't waste your time, even if it does sometimes fall into lulls. It at least gets the plot in motion in quick fashion, introducing us to Layla and her scientist father, who have to flee Seattle when a mysterious group of agents storm their house. Layla's father studies time, and has been working on a time travel project, presumably to try to reunite with his late wife.

When they arrive in Vancouver, where Layla's aunt lives, the young girl is quickly brought into a group of bright friends at Aqli Academy. The year is 2050, and everything looks appropriately sleek: tall, shining buildings; super smooth cars; hoverboards that the kids ride to class. And, yes, the time travel devices, which don't work on adults but do work on children, for some reason. Layla and her friends are initially asked to observe footage from time-traveling drones so they can corroborate historical records with first-hand accounts, but soon enough, they're jumping through time and space.

The main gist of the movie is introducing our heroes (and the kids in the audience) to various Muslim historical figures who they may not know about, but whose work served as the bedrock of so much of the world around us. For instance, the first stop is 9th-century Baghdad, where they run into Al-Khwarizmi, the father of Algebra. Later, they meet Ibn al-Haytham, who discovered/invented the camera obscura, laying the groundwork for optics and photography. I love the idea of introducing kids to these historical figures, but with how breezy this is, and how little time is spent with any of the historical figures, it feels more like an impetus to go on Wikipedia after the movie rather than a chance to really learn much while watching.

Because I was would say maybe half of this movie is just chase scenes, whether it's the kids chasing bad guys, bad guys chasing the kids, or a combination of both. Various chase beats (like a slow-motion slide under a passing cart) are repeated throughout the movie. Which is the main issue of the movie overall: it feels like it's constantly repeating itself. The same character goes missing multiple times. There are repeated scenes of the kids returning to the present, where the adults plead with them to stay, but then they go back to their adventure anyway. Even the various settings -- Cairo, Aleppo, Timbuktu, and Baghdad -- don't have a lot to make them feel different. They all have the same look and feel.

Then there's the issue of inconsistencies in world-building and character development. One of the kids, Khalid, is the brainiest of the bunch, excitedly filling the other kids in on who all the historical figures are. He's shown as being a bit of a klutz, having trouble keeping up with the others' acrobatic movements. But then there are times where he's equally crazy agile and precise with his movements. Meanwhile, one of the big rules is that time travel doesn't work on adults, but the main villain is an adult who is traveling through time. (His character is also just....strange, because it isn't quite clear what he wants. Money? Power? To be remembered in history? He seems evil just for the sake of being evil, without much clear motivation.)

Perhaps the greatest sin here is that the film doesn't even really end. I wouldn't even call it a cliffhanger, it's so abrupt and strange. I think maybe this is supposed to serve as a kind of prequel to the upcoming show, because so much is left unresolved. I don't know how else to parse it.

It's great that there are people out there focusing on creating movies like this that feature kids who aren't often in the spotlight, and I hope that Milo Productions (and other companies that work in similar spaces) keep at that good work and figure out ways to craft stories that are more engaging, entertaining, and fun to watch. This is a fine first try, frustrating as it might be.