Review: LAND OF THE LOST
It’s hard to have anything intelligent to say about a movie when you can’t figure out why it was made in the first place. Land of the Lost is a $100+ million movie based on a Saturday morning TV show that ran for three years in the mid-1970s. The show was produced by Sid and Marty Krofft, who also gave kids of the era “H. R. Pufnstuf” and “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters” (film adaptations of which are also in the works), as well as “Lidsville,” “The Brady Bunch Hour,” and “The Krofft Superstar Hour with the Bay City Rollers.” (MacDonalds commercials featuring Ronald McDonald and the other denizens of Hamburgerland weren’t made by the Kroffts, but they sure look like they were.) If you grew up in that era, I guess you might have some nostalgia for the cheesy cheapness of those shows. Will Ferrell, who stars in the movie and presumably was the 800 pound gorilla behind it, was seven when the show premiered. But as far as I know from friends who consider themselves Kroffts fans, what they enjoy is the surreal aspect of regular people interacting with manic characters in bizarre costumes that don’t even try to be plausible on sets made on a budget that apparently couldn’t afford papier mache. In other words, an expensive Kroffts remake is by definition dead in the water. For the non-fan who won’t be able to discern any subtle references to the show which the writers have worked into the script (I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt), there’s pretty much nothing of any interest here. It consists of ninety minutes of Ferrell, Anna Friel and a slightly-less-unbearable-than-usual Danny McBride running around an “alternate universe” (how they got there isn’t worth the explanation) being chased by CGI dinosaurs and foiling the universal domination plans of some bipedal lizards. The special effects are adequate, the characters utterly uninteresting, and the jokes way too PG-13 to make this suitable for young children. There’s even a joke about how dumb the Polish are, which I thought went out in 70s.
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this movie was a lot of fun. will is his usual terrific and the rest of .the cast interacts well with him. there are some great visual effects and some very funny lines. a great movie to enjoy with a nice bag of popcorn. see it, you’ll like it for sure.
Comment by sharon rogers — June 5, 2009 @ 10:59 pm
I’m the right age to remember this show from tv, and I think this movie has no positive qualities. Whatch the trailers, everything worth seeing is in there. I think this is quite possibly the worst movie I’ve ever seen, EVER. I just can’t believe they made this. What a disappointment.
Comment by Nick — June 6, 2009 @ 3:55 am
Obviously, Will Ferrell and the movie’s director and producers are comfortable voicing prejudice in a corporate culture that condones bigotry. This was underlined by Ferrell in an interview when he was asked if he was not concerned about negative reaction to his cynical stereotyping. He responded that he welcomed objections and seemed to laugh off any concern about his contempt being damaging. The only way he could do that is in an atmosphere that tolerates ethnic discrimination and undoubtedly its cousins, racism and religious intolerance.
As a result, I will avoid anything to do with Universal and its presumably similar-minded corporate friends including American Express, Arrowhead Water, Coca-Cola, GE Money, Minute Maid, NBC, Powerade and Xerox. Bigots may have a right to say what they like, but there’s no way they’re getting any bucks from me.
Comment by John Halucha — July 10, 2009 @ 9:47 am
It is a shame that you must continue to make fun of the Polish. I don’t find
your message funny at all. You can count on me NOT to support Will Ferrel
in any of his endeavors, in other word I will not pay to see any of his movies or
shows or any thing related to him. And Universal can count on the same from me.
Hollywood continues to insult the Polish people for cash. Well I will do all I can
to make sure my cash does not go to anyone or company who sponsors this
kind of degrading so called entertainment.
I will everyone I know about your insulting so called entertainment.
Comment by Jim Przedzienkowski — July 10, 2009 @ 10:57 am