Land of the Lost

(Movie Reviews)

The premise for this movie seemed like hard to go wrong: a kind of "Jurassic Park" type dinosaur action movie, but played up for laughs with Will Ferrell. (I'm a Will Ferrell fan. Apparently not everyone is, but for my money he's a very funny man).

And the previews for this movie looked really good.

I did notice, however that the critics didn't give it very good reviews. So I was a little bit nervous when I rented it.

And to be sure, it's not the greatest movie ever made by a long shot. But it was a pleasant enough viewing experience, and worth the price of the rental in my opinion.

I never saw the television show that this movie was based off of. The original 1974 "Land of the Lost" (W) was before my time. And when the revived 1991 "Land of the Lost" series (W) came out, I felt like I was too old to watch it (although I do remember catching bits and pieces of it while flipping channels).

So I don't know how well the movie compares to the TV show.
However, the neat thing about the movie is the characters go into a world where anything can happen: intelligent dinosaurs, carnivorous plants, giant crabs, blood sucking insects, viking ships, astronauts, slow moving lizard men, and a dimension prison similar to the phantom zone (W).
Whatever the writers can dream up, there the story will veer. Therefore there's always something strange and interesting going on the screen.

If the jokes connect (and they're hit and miss) it's an added bonus. But you almost don't need them. It's fun enough watching all the weird things in this strange new land.

With a set up like this, it's almost criminal that the writers don't do more with it. Instead they content themselves with a lot of lazy jokes about ape-men sex and dinosaur poo, and even a drugged out hallucinogenic scene.
(I always figure when a movie resorts to doing a hallucinogenic scene, it's usually just for padding. And when the writers have the ability to write in anything they want in this strange new land, there's no excuse for padding scenes).

So, while one wishes this movie could have done more, it's satisfactory enough as it is.

It's hard to defend this film as anymore than just a guilty pleasure. As Roger Ebert said, "I guess you have to be in the mood for a goofball picture like this. I guess I was."

Link of the Day
NOAM CHOMSKY ON THE MILITARIZATION OF THE MEXICAN BORDER

Land of the Lost: Movie Review (Scripted)