‘Land of the Lost’ is Another Will Ferrell Love Affair
-----‘Land of the Lost,’ a remake of the 1974 TV show, seemed reasonably promising. While I was never a fan of Will Ferrell when he played himself (‘Talladega Nights,’ ‘Anchorman’), I felt that he had since matured as an actor and comedian with films like ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ and even the funny spoof ‘Blades of Glory.’ I was wrong.
-----‘Land of the Lost’ is the story of Dr. Rick Marshall, a man who has become a joke in the science field ever since his theory about tachyon particles relation to time travel. A few years later, young scientist Holly Cantrell takes interest in his theories, and the two find themselves becoming the first people to travel back in time, along with stowaway loser Will Stanton.
-----Will Ferrell plays Will Ferrell in ‘Land of the Lost.’ He does what he typically does in this film which merely adds a different theme to the Ferrell stand-up routine. Don’t be confused however; they call him Dr. Rick Marshall in the movie, but that’s only for the sake of the story. Ferrell only gets the occasional laugh, and we’re supposed to think that seeing him half naked is funny. Anna Friel plays aspiring scientist Holly Cantrell. She basically has nothing to do other than being good looking. She’s an archetype love interest for Ferrell, more of a prop piece than an actress. The usually funny Danny McBride plays Will Stanton. I had hoped he would take enough of the comedic role in the film that Ferrell wouldn’t be allowed to do what he always does, but that’s hardly the case. With the intermittent laugh provided by McBride’s character Will Stanton, he too unfortunately settles for playing a version of himself that only aids in Ferrell doing his thing. Rounding out the primary cast is one of the film’s most annoying roles in Jorma Taccone as Cha-Ka, the ape-man whose ongoing joke throughout the film is copping a feel of Anna Friel’s breasts. Why am I not laughing?
-----‘Land of the Lost’ gets on your bad side from the start. Advertised as a movie that will draw a young audience in attendance with their parents, the film is unnecessarily and even nastily vulgar. While it is rated PG-13, I didn’t know this before seeing it, and I’m sure many parents won’t consider it either. And while I’m normally the last guy to be offended by vulgarity, I am offended when it’s advertised otherwise and completely uncalled for. I even enjoyed this week’s raunchy R-fest ‘The Hangover,’ but it let the audience know in the trailer it was going to be raunchy and vulgar. With ‘Land of the Lost,’ you have a movie based off of a campy 1974 TV show that many parents will probably bring their kids to. They’ll be surprised to see multiple usages of D**n and S**t, not to mention an in-your face greeting from the protagonist in the form of an F-Bomb. This only adds to the weed references, and many sexual jokes that are the selling point of numerous scenes, including the use of a vibrator as the punch line of one joke. While the drug and sex references may soar over the kids’ heads, the foul language will not. I’m not saying the film constitutes an R-rating by any means, but when you have a movie advertised for kids and families to go see, it is completely unnecessary and in very bad taste to let Will Ferrell do what he does in many of his raunchier films.
-----Obviously, I was immediately dismayed, and ‘Land of the Lost’ had to fight an uphill battle from thereon out; a battle which it lost. However, the movie gets some laughs, with about five decent ones for me. That being said, everything else is so bad, I couldn’t even find myself in a position to give it a courtesy rating of three stars, and instead really disliked the movie. The plot makes little to no sense. If they’re back in time, why is the Golden Gate Bridge lying in the sand, and why does an ice cream truck fall form the sky, apparently on a consistent basis? I don’t want a scientific explanation as the film clearly isn’t going for realism, but they couldn’t have included one sentence clarifying the situation for the viewer? All we get is that we’re back in, “time and space.” So basically, things just randomly occur in this time period. At the end of the film when Ferrell goes back to the present to show everyone he was right, I don’t get why they even believe him. Just because he has some video evidence, does he even know where or when he was?
-----Technically the film is pretty terrible. Whether it’s going for the campy style of its original show or not, it’s bad. After what I assume is primarily a pervasion of the classic show, why is there a need to stay true to its poor effects and costumes? Is that supposed to win over the die hard fans of the series who’re upset with everything else about the film? I’ve seen better costumes on trick-or-treaters than these campy and goofy looking suits that the monsters are dressed in. Even when the film goes with CG effects, it’s not very good. The adequate looking dinosaurs that run around the screen for comedic purposes are just another reason I assumed the film was trying to appeal to a younger audience. Are older audiences really supposed to laugh at some of the physical humor? The cinematography is also horrendous, never choosing a style, but instead giving the audience a headache. My main problem comes with the occasional use of the handheld ‘Cloverfield’ style where the camera frequently flies up and down as Will Ferrell stumbles his way across the screen. Why in a comedy is there a need to have erratic camera movements that take you out of the moment while simultaneously giving you a migraine? Why in any movie for that matter?
-----All in all, there were just too many things I didn’t like about ‘Land of the Lost’ to make it even worth renting for the occasional spot of humor it provides. The pacing and plotting are so choppy and blocky that it feels more like a series of 20 minute SNL skits than an actual, organized effort at storytelling. Maybe that’s where the film’s true fate is decided, but regardless, this isn’t worth wasting your time on, despite getting a mild laugh about every half hour. Those in the theater with me during this film actually seemed to be laughing at just about every attempt at humor Ferrell threw out. So on that note, die hard Ferrell fans looking for more of the same with a different theme will probably get a kick out of ‘Land of the Lost.’ Seeing as I’m not in love with him however, I did not, and was more disgusted than entertained. Ultimately, ‘Land of the Lost’ is a Will Ferrell vehicle with poor filmmaking and weak storytelling; skip it.
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