Land of the Lost – Review

Anyone truly remember the 1974-1976 television series that this remake is based on? I bet no one under 30 does, and even so, the TV show is almost unwatchable now days. It was campy, absolutely cheesy, and hampered by bargain basement effects, even for low budget ’70s standards. Okay, fine, there’s some sort of following for Land of the Lost, but even as a kid, when I caught the reruns, I was even mad at the series’ false advertising of cool dinosaurs and creatures. Maybe it was just the episodes I stumbled upon, but at 8, I was mad.

Do for a modern update? Yeah, why not, with today’s need for ready made properties that a studio could exploit for a quick buck based on name recognition, a big budgeted remake of that TV show with CGI dinosaurs and creatures, I really don’t think anyone is furious that this was made. Even the most dedicated Land of the Lost fans can’t muster much of a fight that this thing exists. The casting of Will Ferrell is the make or break selling point for people on whether or not they want to see this. I don’t blame them, as Ferrell has been treading thin water with his doofus persona recently, but on the other hand, fans of Blades of Glory, Anchorman, and Step Brothers are out there in droves eagerly waiting for his next.

His stamp is all over this film. For me, this is only bearable because Danny McBride is feeding off of it and is injecting funnier jokes and quips, out-dueling the once great Ferrell. McBride is practically the same here as in any other movie, but it feels fresh when played up against Ferrell’s shtick. I cannot lie; I laughed more than I thought, all thanks too McBride. The creature designs are great too, keeping in the spirit of the goofy show, but looking slick and well-made. The CGI T-Rex is iffy, but in the end, it works mostly, because we know this is suppose to be dumb fun. Don’t expect Jurassic Park mayhem.

But the things that are going to kill this movie for the vast majority of people is the fact that the film feels episodic, like they were making it up as they went along and the green screen work is pretty horrible. I never bought the fact that the characters were in a cave, or in some ruins, it all looked incredibly fake, like a nicer looking Saturday Night Live rear projection skit. It’s bad, and worse yet, it doesn’t sell the reality of this world to us, the audience, at all. It’ll take the wind out of a film every time. Not helping the green screen is the weak script. In service of only jokes, and set pieces, it’s devoid of development and hinges only on the characters going to and fro, injecting them into yet another action set piece. Did I expect a riveting plot full of drama and suspense? No, it isn’t that type of film, but the science is only meant as a plot device, and in the end, if you aren’t laughing at Ferrell or McBride, you’ll have a miserable time.

Land of the Lost was meant to cater the teenage crowd, and it shows, with its constant toilet humor. A little more focus on a better plot, with the humor situational, and it might have been a solid family film. While we didn’t need a strict homage, or God forbid, a spoof, we did need a film with a script that wasn’t pieced together like Legos to try and form something big. Land of the Lost certainly is sketchy; a few solid moments here and there, some funny bits too, but it all feels a bit…lost.

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