On his latest expedition, Dr. Rick Marshall is sucked into a space-time vortex alongside his research assistant and a redneck survivalist. In this alternate universe, the trio make friends with a primate named Chaka, their only ally in a world full of dinosaurs and other fantastic creatures.
Genre(s): Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Runtime: 101 minutes
Rating: 5.4/10 (6,892 votes)
Release Date: 5 June 2009
Country: USA
Languages: English
Company: Universal Pictures
Sound: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS
MPAA: Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content, and for language including a drug reference.
Director(s): Brad Silberling
Producer(s):
Joshua Church – co-producer
Jessica Elbaum – associate producer
Marty Krofft – producer
Sid Krofft – producer
Daniel Lupi – executive producer
Jimmy Miller – producer
Michele Panelli-Venetis – associate producer
John Swallow – co-producer
Will Weiske – associate producer
Julie Wixson Darmody – executive producer
Writer(s):
Chris Henchy – (written by) &
Dennis McNicholas – (written by)
Sid Krofft – (television series) &
Marty Krofft – (television series)
Cast:
Will Ferrell – Dr. Rick Marshall
Anna Friel – Holly Cantrell
Danny McBride – Will Stanton
Jorma Taccone – Cha-Ka
John Boylan – Enik
Matt Lauer – Himself
Bobb'e J. Thompson – Tar Pits Kid #1
Sierra McCormick – Tar Pits Kid #2
Shannon Lemke – Tar Pits Kid #3
Stevie Wash Jr. – Tar Pits Kid #4 (as Steven Wash Jr.)
Music: Michael Giacchino
Tagline: Right place. Wrong time.
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I broke my conviction on seeing this movie when my eleven-year-oldinsisted on seeing it for a buck. Will Ferrel's Land of the Lost isn'teven worth that. True, the Saturday morning staple of the 1970's hadits own cheesiness in special effects, and acting. But it did have somegood stories. It was good sci-fi for kids. The 2009 Incarnation makesup for special effects, but cannot recapture the magic of the initialvision of Sid and Marty Kroft. Will Ferrel plays Rick Marshall, ascientist who believe tachyons, or sub-atomic particles, can cross timeand dimension rifts. He is laughed on The Today Show and isdiscredited. That is until he meets young Holly, a naive scientist whoputs stock in his theory. To test the tachyon machine, they go on ariver tour with an out-of-luck, dimwitted cave-ride tour owner, Will.Of course, they fall down the waterfall into the Land of the Lost wherePakunis, Sleestaks, and dinosaurs all roam. What is truly sad is thestate of humor. While the television show did have its share of cheese,it took itself seriously to really try to entertain a young audience.However, this debacle aims at humor, and misses the target big-time.Will Farrel is over-rated, often playing the same naive, innocentschmuck he plays in all his movies. He is limited and cannot tryanything else. The script itself, along with Brad Silberling'sdirection is the trump card, though. The humor relies on constant pottyjokes that are even too lame for kids and pre-teens. Cha-Ka is nothingmore than a perverted primitive primate, as well as Will. Enik isbrought in, as well as the Zarn in a new, but idiotic way. While thedinosaurs looked real, and the Sleestak had a look that was less hokeythan the show, it is obvious they both served as eye candy for a movienot even good enough to suck (I've finally come to the point of usingthe word "suck" in a movie review). Moreover, where were some of theother dinosaurs. We had Grumpy and Alice, but no Dopey, Spike, or Spot.I heard Wesley Eure (the original Will) and Kathy Coleman (the originalHolly) had cameos in the movie, but the scenes were cut. Do you knowwhy? It is obvious producers realized how bad it was and they neededsomething to get us to buy or rent the DVD. I have a much better idea:wait until someone downloads the scenes to You Tube. We just need oneperson to go out and buy this lame movie on DVD. Any takers? Anyone?Come on I know someone might want to ….
Land of the Lost is the unholy bastard child of this years earliercringe-fest Night at the Museum 2. It is more of the same tired,effects riddled, unfunny tripe. Just worse. While many would make theargument that Will Ferrel has lost his touch (many more would argue henever HAD a touch) he has proved to be a reliable presence this decade,and even with his lesser efforts always managed to add some spunk tothe proceedings. But this adaptation of the schlocky television showfrom ages past is a twisted marriage of R rated rudeness, PG visualsand a plodding and often excruciating screenplay.
Aside from the effects which are by all standards just fine, the onlything I can recommend about Land of the Lost is Danny McBride playingscientist Dr Rick Marshall's (Ferrel) tour guide (that being hisprofession before they were transported through space and time) buteven his bizarre style of humour is quashed by the atrocious writingand his lack of screen time.
Disgraced years before for supporting the theory of time travel, RickMarshall has finally perfected a device that he believes can clear hisname. Urged on by a female fan named Holly (Anna Friel) they travel toa serious of caverns in the desert where Rick believes his device willwork. It is here they meet with McBride's character and they aresubsequently sucked through a vortex to the land of the lost where theymeet countless bizarre creatures including a ornery dinosaur, a primatenamed Cha-Ka and a strange race called the Sleestacks. But how tosurvive this strange world and return to the present?
I have been witness to a great number of films which push theboundaries of a PG rating that often enrage parents of younger childrenwho find certain humour inappropriate. But the transitions from goofyfamily fare to raunch in Land of the Lost are among the most jarring Ihave experienced as the profaneness and rudeness of certain jokes evenmanaged to jerk me out of my stupor to do a double take. These segmentsare framed by potty humour and poo gags and connected by the charactersjourney which is nothing more than a series of lame encounters and nearescapes which never progress the plot anywhere or are even amusing forthat matter. What we are left with is a movie that feels twice itsactual length and becomes so utterly obnoxious by the climax that youbeg for more nights at the museum.
Perhaps the most ironic thing about Land of the Lost is that it likelywould have been better if the studio had purposely made the budgetminute and make a full fledged goofy B movie instead of making a Bmovie into a blockbuster. There is also an odd divide between a filmlike this and for example Miss March. Both are awful, but are awful indifferent ways; Miss March is atrocious and Land of the Lost ismisfire. In not being utterly incompetent it creates a twisted voidthat is not deserving of outward contempt but is almost worse as aresult. It's likely unclear of what I am trying to convey so I will beblunt and simply tell you not to go see this movie. Unless you want anap.
Read all my reviews at: simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com
Another week goes by, another old TV show gets theremake/upgrade/big-screen treatment and this one, I will say from thestart, falters just as badly as the majority of them although there iscertainly some fun to be had throughout the film's duration.
Will Ferrell plays Dr Rick Marshall, a "genius" who has seen his namebecome a laughing stock thanks to his theories on manipulating thespace-time continuum and finding alternate universes. Obviously, heeventually creates a device that makes this possible (and also playsshowtunes at the same time) or there would be no movie. One misguidedfield trip later and he finds himself along with the lovely HollyCantrell (played by the lovely Anna Friel) and the trailer trashy WillStanton (Danny McBride) in a strange world populated with primitiveprimates, big bugs, dinosaurs and zombie-like creatures intent on doingbad things if they eventually get to take over our real Earth.
Watching this film is a bizarre experience. I found myself laughing outloud on a number of occasions but usually at the smaller moments (onescene featuring a greedy mosquito I found particularly amusing) and yetbeing left cold by a number of moments that I felt were intended toprovide some big laughs. The mixture of quirky comedy alongside somevaried FX work doesn't help although an intelligent T-Rex that keepsmaking inconvenient appearances is well-realised and provides most ofthe movies best moments for both the visuals AND the laughs.
Ferrell does his usual schtick and it's amusing enough, thoughproblematic in getting you onside with the characters and theirdilemma. Friel is a pleasure to watch and goes along with thingsadmirably. McBride is, arguably, the best of the characters on screenand provides most of the best lines IF you enjoy his style. The problemis that if you do not enjoy the characters or their chemistry thenthere really isn't a hell of a lot else on show for you to deriveentertainment from, with the other main characters being a primitivehumanoid who does not speak much and an alien who appears for maybe atotal of 3 minutes.
Sounds bad? Well, it's not a total dud. Personally, I like Ferrell'sschtick so many scenes kept me entertained. And when a movie features aman being asked to pose in front of an oncoming raging T-Rex whilesomeone tries to take a photograph (showing the scale of the beast,obviously) it's hard not to at least smirk. Add the aforementionedmosquito moment, a whole flock of baby pterodactyls being kept placidby showtunes and the scenes featuring Matt Lauer (I don't know him butI assume he's a well-known American TV host) that bookend the movie andyou have a film that's certainly watchable though not one worth seekingout to view again and probably not worth going out of your way to seeat the cinema.
See this if you like: Land Of The Lost (TV), Mysterious Island, IndianaJones & The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.
Storyline: Will Ferrell as Dr. Rick Marshall designs a machine to takehim through time and space and he uses it to travel, with a femalelove-interest and a trailer trash sidekick, to a world with dinosaurs,giant bugs and monkey-people. They lose the machine and have to find itin order to return home.
That's the premise, but this film is truly, truly awful. There are NOlaughs, NO smiles. It seems that every character has lines spoken toFerrell telling him how wonderful he is, and the whole thing is onehuge ego trip.
Under no circumstances should ANYONE pay to see this film. It's noteven worth a DVD rental.
To be honest, it's not even worth the time to download it from theinternet! Yes, it really is that bad.
One word should be all I need for this review: rubbish. This has to bethe most pointless, unfunny, plot less, awful films I have ever seen inmy life. It wasn't exciting, the jokes were groan-worthy (althoughafter a while I even gave up groaning), the plot was.. well theredidn't seem to be one, being more a selection of scenes thrown togetherwith no reason behind them. I've never seen the original series (didn'teven know that there was one), but the TV spots made it look like goodfun. How wrong they were… All in all I think the comment from thewife summed it up: "That's an hour and a half of my life that I'llnever get back"… enough said!
At first when i walked into the cinema with my friends we were 6 andtwo of us already saw the movie and recommended it for us so we wentand saw the movie, of course this isn't a story of how i saw the moviebut to tell people that some did like this movie and thought it was agreat laugh. Will Farrell is known for comedies and i love his movies,this movie got me laughing so hard that i could feel the crowd wantingto shut me up. i mean this movie was made to make people laugh and inmy opinion mission accomplished. i didn't walk into the cinema to seean Oscar -probably- nominated movie, i went to see a movie that can endthe night in a good way. and it did. Will and Danny make an excellentteam on scream as their lines and jokes kept making me laugh harder andharder, i walked out of the cinema with a big smile and kept on talkingwith my friends over the funny parts in the movie, sure it's kindasilly with a bad story but hey as i said if i wanted story and goodscript and whatever i'd waited until the end of the year with those bigmovies running for Oscars. bottom line, if you want a good laugh thisis the film for you.
My God, if I had a penny for the number of times I have not laughed atthe comic capers of Will Ferrel. I must unabashedly admit that I haveseen many Will Ferrrll movies like The Anchorman, Semi Pro, Stepbrothers, the Elf, etc etc. I only liked him in Stranger than fictionwhich is a serious role. And a little bit in Elf and Step brothers. Iam thoroughly disappointed by this outing. His acting and his anticsare pretty much the same as they have been throughout. There was nonovelty in the funny scenes. Throughout the movie I sat bored, exceptone scene with the dinosaur an a pole vault. Wish I could get throughto Will Ferrell and explain to him and every new movie that he acts inis different and the same jokes start to fall flat after a while. I amtired of seeing him acting out the 'Child stuck in a grown man's body'routine over and over again. Unless there is something spectacular inhis next, I vow to steer clear of Will Ferrell's movies. Wish theycould've given more screen space to Danny McBride. After PineappleExpress I think that he is getting better and better..
I feel sorry for Anna Friel, first the show that she is absolutelyadorable in gets cancelled, then the final episode is almost as bad asthe final episode of Seinfeld, then what could have been a great moviefor her career – the only other real character in a major Will Ferrellcomedy – turns out to be a terrible, stinking turd of a flick.
The jokes were not funny, i don't remember laughing. They wereterrible, obvious and loooooooong. The Ferrell character was completelyunlikable from start to finish. There is a Neanderthal as one of themajor characters and at one point the question is asked "why don't welet the monkey lead?" a question the many writers, producers addirector of this stink-fest may have asked themselves repeatedly as theNeanderthal was more often than not the source of what passes for'humor' and not Will Ferrell's overacting. The last point is a sourceof some concern to this moviegoer, WF can be funny, and he can be veryfunny and as seen in Stranger Than Fiction this pony has more than onetrick but what I have been seeing more recently is a series of choicesthat leave me questioning how long until people stop paying him to bein their 'comedies.' I don't know if anyone ever bothered to watch thedeleted scenes of Bruce Almighty but there are a few scenes in whichJim Carrey was given some props and told to do Jim Carrey-like things,shameless and uninspired directing which thankfully didn't make it into what was an averagely fun movie, however Brad Silberling must've, asthis film was one long series of bad set pieces designed to make WillFerrell do Will Ferrell-like things and the terrible bits made thefinished film rather than the extra features of the DVD.
Zero stars. MUST DO BETTER. PLEASE Hollywood, PLEASE!
I actually enjoyed this movie a lot. Myself and several other people inthe audience were laughing our heads off.
Its light hearted and actually very very funny.
Most of the negative criticisms seem to come from people who have setideas about what a good movie is and should contain.
Its a sci-fi comedy, not a dark and serious horror or thriller movie Ifind it a shame that people are quick to criticise Land of The Lost,rather than just enjoying sitting back for a couple of hours and beingentertained by it.
I'm only sorry I didn't get to see it at the cinema a second time. Willdefinitely be buying it when it comes to DVD.