Time travel has been used in fiction for quite some time. At its best, it can produce classic films such as “The Terminator,” “Back to the Future” and “Groundhog Day.” At its worst, time travel can cause a plot to become convoluted and full of confusing paradoxes.

“Project Almanac” (PG-13;106 min) falls right in the middle. “Project Almanac” is a sci-fi thriller directed by Dean Israelite starring Jonny Weston, Sofia Black-D’Elia, Sam Lerner and Allen Evangelista.

Time machines bring nothing but trouble, as David Raskin, played by Weston, and his group of friends learn the hard way. After seeing himself at his current age appear in an old home video, he realizes he must eventually build one. When he and his friends build the machine, a world of opportunity arises and second chances become reality.

The consequences of time travel become apparent and the world starts to pay the price in the form of tragedy, devastation and death. The group has to revert everything before it is too late.

“Project Almanac” had bad news written all over it. When the trailers were first released almost two years ago, the film was titled “Welcome to Yesterday.” It looked promising, having aspects of both “Chronicle” and “Back to the Future.” It was then pushed back to 2015, retitled twice and moved to a January release.

For the most part, “Project Almanac” is an enjoyable teen tale. What hurts its good intentions is the found footage gimmick. Films such as “Chronicle” and “Paranormal Activity” reinvented and rejuvenated the genre successfully. By 2015, found footage became another overused trick, along with the vampire and zombie genres.

Films that utilize found footage film must have a clear reason for doing so. “Project Almanac” fails to and it ends up hurting the film, causing many dramatic scenes to fall short. When you cannot even identify the hair color of a main character, it is hard to develop empathy for them.

In contrast to this problem, one of the more successful points of the movie is its interesting characters. The film could have easily been like the slew of teen oriented flicks coming out each year and had unlikable characters. The people in “Project Almanac” are far from unlikeable, being one of the most enjoyable group of characters in a mediocre film.

David, the main character, in particular shows a dark side of himself. Losing his father at a young age, the movie portrays David inventing the time machine to become closer to him. He is a kid who pushes himself to his limits just to reach greatness. But when David learns he must give up the wonderful life the machine has brought, his selfish side appears. This duality is hard to come by in an average teen movie.

David’s sister Christina, played by Virginia Gardner, should be just as compelling as David. She lost her father as well, and ends up losing more than he does as the movie progresses. Yet, we never learn who she is beyond the typical high school girl. Her scenes involve her holding the camera, but nothing but expository and awkward dialogue come from her.

“Project Almanac” is a thrill ride. It is not great, but is enjoyable. When the film does well and focuses on the main characters, you will find yourself invested. But when it fails, it fails hard and knocks the viewer off track. The film is a good for matinee viewing, but do not pay full price for it.

Stars: 3 out of 5.