Review: Land of the Lost

Land of the Lost

OPENING: 06/05/2009

STUDIO: Universal

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

SOUNDTRACK:

The Charge
Right place. Wrong time.

Opening Statement
Amid a field of lackluster summer movies of 2009, here’s another television property adapted for the big screen no one asked for. Based on the children’s sci-fi serial of the 1970s, Land of the Lost has undergone some cosmetic changes in the reinterpretation for today’s movie audience. The participation of the show’s creators, Sid and Marty Krofft, as co-producers more or less puts the stamp of approval on this pumped up version. Broad jokes and an eclectic mix of cultural references makes it hard to pin down who the intended target audience is.

Facts of the Case
Dr. Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) proposes a most unique solution to the energy crisis: time traveling to harvest the resources from other dimensional planes. Unfortunately, his idea makes him the laughing stock of the scientific community. Fast forward three years and he’s giving presentations to kids at the La Brea Tar Pits.

With some encouragement from research assistant Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel), Dr. Marshall does build his tachyon accelerator. During a field test of the gizmo, the scientists trigger the greatest localized earthquake ever known and are sucked into another dimension along with survivalist/rafting-ride-guide Will Stanton (Danny McBride). This "Land of the Lost" resembles a dumping ground for all sorts of relics and inhabitants from different time periods, sort of like a cosmic lost and found. If the trio can outwit a T-Rex with a grudge and an army of lizard-men, maybe they can make it back home to become heroes.

The Evidence
A personal frustration of my childhood was never having a resolution to the TV series Land of the Lost. It was difficult enough to get home from school in time to catch the show. Gradually dawning on me the Marshall family wasn’t getting any closer to making it home with each passing episode, I was unaware (watching reruns in the 1980s) the show had stopped production years ago without wrapping up the story. If nothing else, at least this movie provides an ending to the story of our three accidental time travelers.

The Land of the Lost doesn’t quite bring back adolescent memories, as the fast-paced adventure-comedy breezily touches on key elements from the series. Managing to stay within the limits of the PG-13 rating, the jokes and innuendo are geared for a slightly older audience than the original. Viewers who remember the source will be a little surprised by how much these characters have grown up.

A significant change is that the three human characters are no longer a father and his two children. Once the young daughter with pig tails, Holly is now an adult woman who, predictably, supplies the romantic interest to Ferrell’s Dr. Marshall. Older brother Will is now a trailer trash slob. Even Chaka (Jorma Taccone), one member of a primate species, has been given a makeover. No longer a childlike playmate, Chaka has attitude and can be quite mischievous — he’s all hands when he first meets Holly. As for the Sleestaks, who gave me the creeps when I was young, remain the slowly shuffling non-threat they always were.

The performances are serviceable. While Friel’s Holly is sexy and smart, and McBride’s Will is blunt and practical, this is a showcase for Ferrell, who steps away from the man-child roles he’s been milking to play an arrogant mad scientist. Despite evidence his brand of science is sure to get them all killed, Marshall remains adamantly sure of his expertise. Perhaps we should cut him some slack, since he’s actually built a time machine. Ferrell does the lovable idiot thing very well and I enjoyed his portrayal of the underappreciated genius.

Into this dimensional anomaly where time’s junk has been tossed, there’s also a wide range of pop culture references. A moment that brings to mind the Flintstones might be expected where dinosaurs are present, but an impromptu rendition of Cher’s “Believe” also finds a nice fit among the gags. At the screening I attended, no one else laughed at this particular joke, but evading your enemy by running serpentine is timeless comedic advice. Add in some funny special effects and there are worse excuses for getting out of the sun. Curiously, the two biggest potential gross-out laughs happen off-screen.

Closing Statement
The flimsy story comes off the rails in the third act, but then again the science in Land of the Lost is more suspect than the black holes in Star Trek. This isn’t an adventure-comedy for the ages, but an enjoyable summer distraction which got more than a few chuckles out of me.

The Verdict
6/10

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