Land of the Lost

[Beate]

http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/films/land- ... 29195.html

The ViewLondon Review

Review by Matthew Turner
29/07/2009
Opens Friday 31 July 2009

Two out of Five stars
Running time: 101 mins

Land of the Lost has decent special effects but ultimately fails thanks to a poorly written script, a general lack of imagination, a series of painfully unfunny gags and an unforgivably lazy central performance from Will Ferrell.

What's it all about?
Based on a 1970s TV series by Sid and Marty Krofft (which thankfully never seems to have made it to the UK), Land of the Lost stars Will Ferrell as Dr Rick Marshall, who invents a time machine that transports him, his sexy, super-smart assistant Holly (Anna Friel) and dim-witted souvenir salesman Will (Danny McBride) into a parallel universe where the past, present and future all mix together. Falling foul of a very angry T-Rex, our heroes team up with (overly) friendly monkey-boy Chaka (Jorma Taccone) and attempt to defeat an army of lizard men known as Sleestak.

The Good
To be fair, Land of the Lost has two decent gags, one involving a giant crab and the other involving a blood-sucking insect. Similarly, the effects are pretty decent throughout, particularly the T-Rex and the creepy-looking Sleestak costumes.

The Bad
Unfortunately, the rest of the film is painfully unfunny, with a series of badly thought-out, poorly written and frequently puerile jokes that don't sit well with the kiddie-friendly fantasy setting. There should be a rule for films like this and the rule should be that if you can't make it at least as funny and as entertaining as Galaxy Quest, then don't bother.

Ferrell delivers an unforgivably lazy performance, with the result that the film is saddled with two obnoxious and unlikable lead characters (Ferrell and McBride), which doesn't really work. Caught in the middle, Anna Friel gives a performance that is much, much better than the film really deserves, but you just end up feeling sorry for her as a character gropes her breasts for the umpteenth time.

Worth seeing?
If the filmmakers had put just one tenth of the effort they put into the effects into the script and direction, The Land of the Lost might have been good fun. Instead, it's tedious, unimaginative and desperately unfunny. One to avoid.

[AYBG]

Thought it would have been better as a 12. Maybe I'm just getting old

A 12A is a 12. Most parents are just incapable of differentiating them from PGs now...

[EthanRunt]

Just saw it, dire film, laughed maybe twice, and not much in the laughing, slight chuckles, Hangover size, the Holly getting wet gag fly over the audience, brilliant 12a with kids ads before it, well done cinema.

Still, the music was grand.

[Beate]

Found an even worse (one star) review in the London Lite from last Thursday, and Paul Connolly is never one to mince his words:

"Friel's the only appeal in Lost plot"
I honestly have no idea at whom this appalling tosh is aimed. It's based on an old American kids' sci-fi series which was, by all accounts, bloody awful, so at least it has kept faithful to the original. But there are no kids in the cast for the brats to identify with and much of the humour is, ostensibly at least, adult in nature (if an adult's brain was replaced with a grapefruit). The plot? You really want to know? Okay. Will Ferrell (Hollywood's least funny man after Jim Carrey) stars as Dr Rick Marshall, a scientist with crackpot theories abou time travel that have made him an outcast. His career is in ruins, when another scientist, Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel, predictably delish), shows up to encourage Marshall to follow through on some of his ideas. Sure enough the two are off to an empty desert amusement park, run by a redneck (Danny McBride), where Holly believes there is a portal to another dimension. There is, and thereafter follows an adventure with all the production values of a Seventies Doctor Who episode, and all the wit of Antiques Roadshow, as the brave trio meet up with a primate that looks like Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters, a seriously hacked-off T-rex (is there any other kind?) and a race of bug-eyed blokes wearing rubber suits who want to invade the universe. There's one good joke (it features Cher'ssong Believe) and lots of lingering shots of Ms Friel in a tight white vest. And that's all, folks.

[NeilTh]

Think its a bit harsh to say Will Ferrell is Hollywood's least funny person after Jim Carrey from the London Lite paper.

I agree his last few films (Semi Pro etc) have not been his best, but he has also made some classics.

Was gonna see this but dont think I'll bother- maybe catch it on DVD?

Neil

[oldmotherreilly]

Actually my son is 13 and went to see this and thought it was terrible! So even the youngsters don't rate it.