Title: Land of the Lost

Directed by: Brad Silberling (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events)

Cast: Will Ferrell (Step Brothers, Blades of Glory), Danny R. McBride (East Bound and Down, The Foot Fist Way), Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies) and Jorma Taccone.

Scores: Technical: 95, Story: 95, Acting: 99, Overall: 98

Going in to Land of the Lost I was reminded of my childhood… Sleestaks were one of the most terrifying creatures on television. I was hoping they could pull off taking a dramatic TV show and make it a relevant comedy.

Thanks to great acting, and a humorous script, they did.

WILL FERRELL (Step Brothers, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby) stars as has-been scientist Dr. Rick Marshall, a man with no weapons, few skills and questionable smarts who must survive an alternate universe full of marauding dinosaurs and fantastic creatures from beyond our world. Marshall has been sucked through a space-time vortex to a place of spectacular sights and super-scaled comedy known as the Land of the Lost.

Coming along with him for the adventure is a faithful research assistant Holly (ANNA FRIEL, Pushing Daisies, Timeline) and a redneck tour guide (DANNY MCBRIDE, Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express) named Will. Chased by T.rex and stalked by painfully slow reptiles known as Sleestak, Marshall, Will and Holly must rely on their only ally—a primate named Chaka (JORMA TACCONE, Saturday Night Live)—to navigate out of the hybrid dimension. If they can escape from this routine expedition gone awry then they’re heroes. Get stuck, and they’ll be permanent refugees in The Land of the Lost.

Based on the classic series created by television icons SID & MARTY KROFFT, Land of the Lost is directed by BRAD SILBERLING (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Casper) and produced by JIMMY MILLER (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Step Brothers) and Sid & Marty Krofft.

I was trying not to expect too much, I was an avid watcher of the original T.V. series, which was a drama, and this is clearly going to be a parody comedy. I was pleasantly surprised by the likability factor of all the characters. I think Will Ferrell is usually an acquired taste, as is Danny Mcbride, but they were fantastic. Immediately the movie will have you laughing from start to finish, (and many times throughout the film, the audiences’ laughter was so loud you could not hear the dialogue) I don’t want to give away any parts of the movie but, the huge mosquito part was hilarious. Also, the sleestaks’ extra row of teeth make them even more scary than before.

If you like comedies, I definitely suggest you go see Land of the Lost. It has laughs galore and extremely funny actors that pull off one-liners that no one else could manage.

By Dave Minyard

By dave

4 thoughts on “Land of the Lost Movie Review”
  1. Will Ferrell has been all over the place with this movie. I am glad to hear that it is worth seeing because I do plan on seeing it opening night.

  2. I recently saw the movie……so naturally I’m still recovering from this monstrosity that bears the name of a great FAMILY series.

    basically this movie takes everything you know and love about the original series and blows it to heck

    ending spoilers

    1-first of all ,It is originally a family series!
    not some dirty perverse not-comedy.

    2- ENIK IS NOT A VILLAN!!!
    he isn’t that nice but he isn’t evil!

    3- The Zarn is NOT a Sleestak
    he is a cool disco alien

    there are many more examples

    what were they thinking

    Q: who will this movie attract?
    A: fans of the original series and their kids/grandkids

    Q: who is this movie a slap in the face to
    A:fans of the original series and their kids/grandkids

    shame on them!

  3. Well, I guess I should have clarified that if you were going to see this like it was an exstention of the original series, you will be greatly disappointed. Hence the parody comedy part. As a stand alone comedy, I stick by my rating. Comparing it to the original series…………oops.
    Sorry if I steered anyone in the wrong direction!!

  4. My advice to you before watching this movie…

    Wait until thanksgiving day….

    then have all of everyone over (Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters, cousins, etc… )

    then, without anyone knowing, break out that nickle bag of pot you’ve been hiding inside the bottom of your closet and lace the stuffing with it. Cook the turkey with the stuffing. When everyone is good and buzzed, play a game of strip poker over beer and twinkies, and Cheetohs… then when everyone is wasted, half naked, and laughing at the air molecules bouncing off their nipples, then break out the DVD player and this movie and watch it, over and over again!

    And be sure to have Jerry Springer over and the camera’s rolling! :D

    This movie is exactly that — a REALLY f***ed up Thanksgiving dinner over at Grandma’s with the whole family present! It has all the dysfunctional cheese of the original series and is a true gut buster in places to boot.

    I will try as hard as I can to place potential spoilers in the no-see-zone but YOU HAVE TO HAND IT TO SPENCE MILLIGAN, WESLEY EURE and KATHY COLEMAN: They actually sat there and talked about this stuff with a straight face. As if they were dealing with a tornado or a hurricane instead of a crudely animated dinosaur.

    In this updated version you have not stop motion dinos but CGI ones, damn good ones too. Rick, Will and Holly are no longer father son and daughter but instead you have a fathead of a paleontologist, his quirky assistant who pines for his affections, and a white trash stoner with a foul mouth that rivals my own… effectively portrayed by Danny McBride. And Chaka, who instead of being a cute little ape-boy, is now into fondling breasts and genitalia. Go figure that one out!

    Now, the critics have dismissed this movie as mindless trash. I beg to differ. They have absolutely no sense of humor, have never heard of parodies, wouldn’t know a good comedy if it bit them in the ass, and are seemingly completely incognizant of the fact that the original series, while done in a serious manner, had little intellectual material to BEGIN WITH. So is it any big surprise when Will Ferrell gets ahold of it, that it turns out to be Ricky Bobby Meets Jurassic Park? Yes, you AGAIN see Will Ferrell in his underpants.

    The other human visitors to the Land of the Lost are not named, have no real purpose other than serving as dinosaur food, and are seen for less than five minutes apiece, having never made it out of their first five minutes in this godforsaken piece of real estate.

    Indeed, the only truly intelligent life are the damn Staks. They have a society albeit a primitive one. They worship their (Sleestak) god. They even have sex (though all you see is the foreplay, thankfully) Oh, and I would be doing a disservice if I didn’t include “Grumpy” in this category… who is seemingly intelligent enough to hold a grudge against that asshole Marshall for maligning his “walnut- sized” brain, leaving a giant sized walnut at the “doorstep” and leering at Marshall with an “I’m gonna GET you SUCKA!” smirk from the shadows.

    Five out of five stars, it doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is… a campy remake. At least its honest!

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