For those of you over 30 and remember a little Saturday morning kids show in the 70's by Sid and Marty Krofft called Land of the Lost about the Marshall family who fall through a rift in time into an alternate prehistoric universe where they encounter dinosaurs, primates and lizard beings called Sleestacks was campy good fun. The effects were cheesy but as a kid, who care. Now, 25 years after its debut, the Kroffts have produced Land of the Lost (LotL) to the big screen starring Will Ferrell as Dr. Rick Marshall. It is a blast. After seeing clips and endless promotion of the film, I admit it looked dumb, but I was pleasantly surprised. You can say this is more of a reboot than a remake, as Rick Marshall goes into LotL with Will and Holly, but Holly is a scientist and Will is a trailer trash owner of a pathetic cave ride and souvenirs tailored for the mind of pre pubescent boys.
The film opens with a hilarious interview of Dr. Marshall on the Today show with Matt Lauer (Matt Lauer can surprisingly act) where Dr. Marshall is a quantum paleontologist. The interview is a disaster and Dr. Marshall becomes a laughing stock in the scientific community. But, a sexy scientist from Cambridge, Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel) pays him a visit and gives him the strength to complete his invention that could make them travel sideways in time. They set out to prove Marshall's time travel theory correct, where they encounter Will Stanton (Danny McBride) and they get sucked into a space-time vortex, where they save the life of a primate name Chaka (Jorma Taccone) and the adventure to try to find their way home begins. Here they try to survive a grumpy Tyrannosaurus Rex, blood sucking bugs, hallucinogenic coconuts, pterodactyls and a plot by the lizard creature Sleestacks to take over the world.
Now, done the wrong way, this movie could've descended into a giant painful cheeseball fest, but Brad Siberling's direction keeps the film flowing, funny and entertaining. Don't get me wrong, this is not a film to be taken seriously, but in the silliness that it is intended. There are some truly laugh out loud moments in here. Sure, there is predictability and corny lines (mainly from McBride, who I felt overall was the weakest of the actors) but the film works and I am surprised by how much it is getting trashed. Taccone was a treat as Chaka, Friel is solid enough as Holly but this is clearly Ferrell's vehicle and he does not disappoint. I am not the biggest fan of Ferrell (especially his sports related films) but he is hilarious and perfectly cast as Marshall. There is no denying his strength as a comedic actor. Land of the Lost is much better than its given credit for. If you like the TV show, you will really enjoy this version and even if you never saw the show before, you will have fun. Give it a chance. I rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars and is now playing in a theater near you.
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