One of the worst moviegoing experiences I’ve endured this year has to be Brad Silberling’s 2009 bomb “Land of the Lost.” What a waste of talent, resources, time and budget (at $100 million). Now, I haven’t seen the classic TV-show. Subsequently, I have no basis for the film’s comparison, but I can’t imagine I would have been thrilled by the TV series after seeing the film, even if it is only vaguely reminiscent.
Will Ferrell continues his losing streak after “Semi-Pro,” “Step Brothers,” and now this botched movie. He plays Rick Marshall, a scientist with a theory involving multiple dimensions in the universe that meet in a distant space-time continuum. He explains that rather than time-travel moving forward and backwards, it moves side to side, creating a dimension where past, present and future collide at once.
The movie kicks off with a stranded astronaut being hunted by a T-Rex in this other dimension, which the movie never follows up on. After the title credit, Ferrell’s character Rick gets a brain slap and a boot of embarrassment from NBC Today’s Matt Lauer. Fast forward three years and Ferrell finishes his boombox time-warp machine that transplants him and two others in another dimension with dinosaurs, primate ancestors, and several other creatures. Rick shouts, “Matt Lauer can suck it.” Of course, Rick and friends must somehow prevent the disturbances of this other-world from resulting in planet Earth’s demise, and also find an exit from the alternate world to their own.
Humor is not the film’s strong suit, and Ferrell is constantly the brunt of sight gags that have him covering himself in dinosaur urine, consistently failing to outsmart a T-Rex, and idiotic banter with the primate. The special effects in the movie also wreak. The creatures and dinosaurs look terrible, and much of the action sequences fall apart. “Land of the Lost” would have been easier to forgive as a kid’s film, but with the profanity, sexual humor, drug-related scenes, and some scary creatures–it doesn’t exactly cater to youngsters. Regardless, the movie is really an exercise in wasted time and money. It’s one of the year’s worst films.
Last 5 posts by Matt V
- Escape Plan - October 20th, 2013
- Captain Phillips - October 16th, 2013
- Gravity - October 15th, 2013
- Prisoners - October 15th, 2013
- World War Z - June 20th, 2013
Wow, when a film starring Will Ferrell, that’s billed as a comedy, does not have comedy as one of its strong suits, you know there’s trouble. The previews for this (“Serpentine pattern!”) were anti-funny. They were so bad, I don’t see how anyone greenlighted even the concept here. Thanks for suffering through it, MJV, so now I know better than to ever watch it. :)