It's a theme that finds its way back to H. G. Wells's novel. The
screenwriters were charged with telling the epic story on a personal
scale. "That's really the brilliance of the screenplay," says Kennedy.
"It adheres to something that H.G. Wells presented – the idea of a
personal point of view. Ray and his family are being affected
personally by what's happening." More...
http://www.scriptologist.com/Magazine/Film_News/WarWorlds/warworlds.html