Many people have had issues and others have answered them, but I have two nagging issues. First, where is the cowboy? Why wasn’t he saved as well? Is it because he isn’t part of the friends and family plan? He should have been saved, since he was in the same area as the main characters. The other issue is that those in the deepest depths, and thickness of water/time, are still trapped and have actually only been there for a short period of time inside while hundreds/thousands of years have passed outside. Given this, how would anyone know that there was a fountain of youth? Anyone finding it would be trapped in time. No one would ever know about it without being trapped. Therefore, no one would search for it, because they wouldn’t know about it. For me, this is the flaw, unless there is an answer that could be in a follow-up film, or even a tv series.

Kudos on the movie, since it really made us all think. In that regards, it reminded me of a low-budget time travel movie, Primer. I love movies that put the brain to work.

The kids go into a cave and pass the first “moisture barrier,” indicating they have penetrated a zone where time moves much slower than on the surface. For every few seconds that pass in that section of the cave, an entire season passes on the surface.

Further into the cave there is a second moisture barrier, beyond which time passes even more slowly, so slow that movement inside is imperceptible to observers looking in.

This is why we see Spanish conquistadors engaged in an epic battle with indigenous tribesmen within that innermost chamber: From their point of view time is moving normally, but from the outside they appear frozen. This is the exact same effect Hopper witnesses when he sees the cowboy from outside the cave beyond the first moisture barrier.

Now, the reason the natives and conquistadors are inside the cave in the first place is because it literally contains the fountain of youth. We see the fountain quite clearly as Taylor looks into the innermost chamber where time is at a virtual standstill.

The movie also tells us precisely what we’re seeing because, earlier on, Furby reads Hopper’s notes which say the Spanish monarch sent several expeditions to retrieve a vial of water from the Fountain of Youth, but none have returned. They didn’t return because they went into the innermost chamber, where time is almost at a standstill. They are still alive, still fighting the natives to reach the fountain and retrieve a vial of water.

In addition, with this new knowledge the kids figure out that the cave system, with its time-shifted zones, is essentially one big protective mechanism for the Fountain of Youth itself, ensuring that it cannot be exploited.

In the meantime, runoff from the Fountain of Youth flows out to a small pool in beyond the first moisture barrier. This is the pool where Taylor and Furby are resurrected, and where Jackie is healed.

When the Spaceman comes into the cave and the kids ask him what year it is and how much time has passed, he punches a command on his wrist devices that SCANS THEIR FACES, searches a database, and finds information about them. Then it shows them news reports about their disappearance, as well as reports about the giant ark in orbit where humans have fled after destroying the Earth’s atmosphere.

That’s when the kids have their worst fears confirmed, that hundreds of years have passed on the surface while they have been trapped in the cave.

And yes, the kids most certainly do react to this news with dismay. Veeves cries, Jackie is shocked, and Cara tries to comfort Veeves as they both realize their parents are long dead, never knowing the fate of their children.

For the remaining few hours they are stuck in the cave, THOUSANDS of years pass outside: So much time that humans have evolved into a semi-aquatic, spacefaring species that can hop between planets in seconds.

These evolved humans with their advanced tech are able to rescue the kids and Hopper’s family by sending tentacle-like machines that reach into the time-shifted cage and pull them out. That solves the problem of rescuers getting stuck inside: No one has to physically go inside to rescue them, they simply deploy machines to yank them out.

So the Fountain of Youth itself does heal humans, and it can bring people back to life, but it is separate from the time-shifted zones. The reason there are moisture “walls” separating the zones are 1) For narrative purposes to clearly delineate the zones so we (the audience) understand where they begin, and 2) Because to an outside observer, everything within the slowtime zones is condensed. Even the air is condensed.

Finally, when the characters are all reunited aboard the future human starship, they see a silver lining in that at least they still have each other. Jackie also says “We’re kind of a big deal around here,” meaning these future humans are fascinated by them. (And yes, they would be: The kids and the Hoppers are living examples of the future humans’ evolutionary record, the same way a Neanderthal would be if we found one encased in ice and we were able to resurrect him/her.

No problem whatsoever. Glad to see this conversation still going. Took me a long time to finally watch this one – lots of comments asking me to. So kudos goes out to them! Don’t be a stranger Michelle. Shameless plug – If you join the patreon chat server these conversations are going for lots of movies constantly! hahah. Happy you enjoyed it so. And I too keep learning from the comments. So that is awesome.

Absolutely there was NO way for the teenagers in the cave to fully absorb all the implications of MILLENNIUM passing in 2 hours! Of course they couldn’t react to all that in the short span of this movie! The youngest girl did bemoan her dead parents, IMHO they did in fact give all the emotional reaction they were able to face while still being emotionally prioritized on getting out of the cave. Yeah.

Also, Taylor, dude, thank you very much for creating a place for us to share our thoughts and stuff about this movie. Two thumbs to you! Thanks man:-)

I think one of the characters said that she was gone for 2 seconds. Wouldn’t that make it 6 months that she was on the surface?