Reviewed by Rachael Okesola
Stars Will Ferrell, Anna Friel, Danny McBride, Jorma Taccone,
John Boylan, Matt Lauer, Bobb'e J Thompson, Brian Huskey
Written by Chris Henchy, Dennis McNicholas,
Sid Krofft & Marty Krofft
Certification UK 12A | US PG-13
Runtime 101 minutes
Directed by Brad Silberling
After being kicked out of the science department for his theory of time warps, Dr Rick Marshall (Ferrell) is reduced to working as a science teacher. His fate soon changes when he meets research assistant Holly Cantrell (Friel), who urges him to complete his time warp creation called the tachyon amplifier.
After completing the machine, they go to the Devil's Cave attraction out in the desert where they meet tour guide Will Stanton (McBride). During the tour, they activate the tachyon amplifier and the three are sucked into a parallel universe where they meet an ape-like creature named Chaka. Their real adventure begins when they are chased by a hungry T-rex, but manage to escape. The following day they are attacked by a group of painfully slow reptiles called the Sleestaks. Trying to escape, they enter a strange, transparent pylon where they meet the creature who contacted them known as Enik. Enik tells them that the evil Zarn is out to control the universe and needs the tachyon amplifier.
The title says it all. Adapted from the 1970s kids' TV show, Land of Lhe Lost is a movie that manages to induce the odd chuckle; sadly for me, it will not be acclaimed as one of the funniest movies of the year. If you were not a fan of the original, it is fair to say you may hate this even more. This movie most certainly is not for the mature viewer but rather for the young-at-heart, so it's advised to view it with no high expectations. On the flip side, the Ferrell and McBride partnership works well, so if you are a fan of both stars, you may enjoy it. But overall, Land of the Lost is a candidate for one of the year's worst films; to say this movie is "lost", is putting it mildly. • Review supplied by Inthenews.co.uk
_______________________________________
SECOND OPINION | Stuart O'Connor * I can't admit to being a fan of Land of The Lost on TV as a kid; I was more of a Land of The Giants buff (yes, it's like Elvis vs The Beatles, or Kirk vs Picard, or Warner cartoons vs Disney cartoons). Although I did quite like couple of other shows made by the Kroffts – HR Pufnstuff, Lidsville and The Bugaloos. But Land of The Lost was, in my (very young) book, utter crap. And this big-screen remake is very much along the same lines. They've taken the Marshall family from the original TV series ... and completely thrown them away, making our adventurers lost in a prehistoric world hidden at the bottom of a waterfall inside a cave in the desert a bunch of strangers. Ferrell can be a funny man, but he needs the script to meet him halfway; sadly, the script for this one didn't even get on the bus. In fact, it slept through the alarm and completely ignored the banging on the door from its mother. Friel is pretty and talented, and deserves much better projects than this one. And McBride proves, once gain, that he's totally shit (I competely loathed The Foot Fist Way and Observe & Report). The plot holes are big enough for a T-rex to walk through, and most of them actually involve a T-rex – one minute it's chasing our "heros", the next minute it's nowhere to be seen, with no explanation for where it's gone. (I reckon it nipped off to the pub for a quick pint). But silly plots and annoying jumps in logic can be forgiven if a film is funny enough. This one is not. Funny. At. All. Avoid. Please.