Land of the Lost: Review By soylent green Lantern

For the past few days, my friends and I have decided to go to the local theater and see two films in a row. "The Hangover" was one of those films and stayed in our minds the whole time. For the other film we were stuck between "Drag Me To Hell" and "Land of the Lost". There were four of us there tonight and two of us wanted to see "Drag Me To Hell". So we were at a butt-f*cking impass. I am a fan of the original series and this film did look a bit funny but seemed nothing like the original show. However, I am also a fan of Danny McBride and Will Ferrell so we decided to see "Land of the Lost".

Ferrell plays Dr. Rick Marshall, a scientist laughed off the Today show for his theories regarding alternate dimensions and periods of time flux. A few years later, a budding doctorate student named Holly (The sexy Anna Friel) convinces him to continue his research into the idea, and going on a hunch inside a grimy water trail lead by the obnoxious Will (Danny McBride). Sure enough, the group end up in a totally different time where dinosaurs roam amongst ape/human hybrids and creatures known as Sleestaks.

It sounds needlessly complicated, and unfortunately for "Land of the Lost", it comes off as trying to hard in many areas. On one hand, it wants to throw a bunch of scientific terms and ideas at the audience to try and claim it has some semblance of being smart, but then takes it all back by inserting a whole plethora of jokes involving poop, breasts, drugs and homosexuality. Sure, sometimes these jokes CAN be funny but many of the jokes are used throughout the movie over and over again, in the same ways. Apparently, they missed the memo about beating a dead horse.

There is a lot of obvious camp sprinkled throughout the film, but that does not give it an excuse for feeling so stale and undercooked. Many of the jokes not involving anything mentioned above are totally hit or miss; there is no middle ground to be found at all. And of course, the film is a grand showcase for Ferrell to play another clueless idiot, thrown into a totally unrealistic situation. While his shtick has not worn as thin as the work of comedians like Jim Carrey, it is starting to lose its appeal rather quickly. And while McBride holds his own for the most part, Friel and a nearly unrecognizable Jorma Taccone (of The Lonely Island and Saturday Night Live fame) are forced to endure through Ferrell acting through one ridiculous idea after the other.

McBride is the saving grace for the film. He nails almost every line and reaction perfectly, continuing to cement his status as the obnoxious and pompous jackass supporting character. He never resorts to the foolish heights Ferrell puts himself through (even during a silly drug-fueled sequence that drags itself out for a bit too long), and seems very content at playing the absurd straight co-star. While his attitude is a bit overwhelming at certain intervals, he just has too much charisma not to be liked on screen. He believes in his character, and he makes it shine from beginning to end.

But while the opening bit and many of the jokes are a mess, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of adventure that takes place throughout the film. It feels like an extended chase film at certain points (especially because of the Tyrannosaurus Rex constantly gunning for Ferrell), but it manages to slow itself down to really allow the audience to take in the ideas it is trying to explore and get across. There are some highly extravagant and clever ideas on display here, and when the film wants to, it really allows the camera (and the audience) to appreciate and take all the interesting things in. But since it blows through the majority of its running time (when it is not stalling on certain sequences), these slow-down moments come very few and far between.

The special effects are also quite marvelous to look at. Although the entire film looks like it needed a lot less green screened effects, there is still plenty of obvious effort put into the creatures that show up during the film. The showpiece of a Tyrannosaurus Rex is incredibly detailed, and downright terrifying in some instances. It is not the game changer like the T-Rex in "Jurassic Park" was sixteen years ago, but it still looks relatively magnificent. The makeup effects to bring the ape/human hybrids and Sleestaks to life are just as good, if not better. But, I did not like was how great many of the effects look. I would have loved it if they had kept the effects from the original series in there.

I was not expecting a lot out of "Land of the Lost", but parts did surprise me. I did laugh quite a few times, and while they work to mixed effect, the special effects and makeup are amazingly well done but pissed me off a bit. But there is still plenty wrong with the film, whether it be the messy opening, the off-the-wall pacing of the film, the bad jokes, or Ferrell himself. It wants to be a better movie, but it does not seem to know how to do it. Relying on McBride as a crutch can only work so much.