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'Land of the Lost'
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Sid and Marty's Land of the Lost was a 1970s television show, it was low-budget, cheesy, and badly lit, but it was amazingly popular, and for the time period revolutionary. As seems to be the modern trend, Land of the Lost has been made into a major motion picture, this particular film being a new vehicle for Will Ferrell. The film version takes some liberties with the original material, changing some plot points while maintaining the core idea, and in the end it plays out much like most other Ferrell films in the recent past. The film can't come close to the appeal that was drawn from the original, low-budget television show.
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The film follows Dr. Rick Marshall (Ferrell), who has built and destroyed his career on the theory of time warps. Marshall meets a young student, Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel), and the two set out to test Marshall's time machine. The two meet with Will Stanton (Danny McBride), the tour guide of the cave where the best signals for time travel are coming from. Eventually, the three discover that Marshall was right in his theories, and they end up in a land that collides past, present, and future, an actual "Land of the Lost." The three then spend the rest of their time running from dinosaurs, meeting the locals (the primates and the Sleestaks), and trying to escape back to their Earth.
The film distances itself from the cheap costuming of the original show for the most part. The dinosaurs are much more realistic, yet the film is a far cry from Jurassic Park computer-enhanced images. Though, computers are obviously needed for the dinosaurs, bugs, and most wildlife, it is disappointing how artificial they look. The film does seem to throw back to the original show with the Sleestacks, a reptilian race of warriors. The Sleestacks look more comparable to the original characters, the costuming is quite artificial. The film seems to go back and forth from over-the-top costuming and overly-enhanced computerized images without finding a cohesive balance.
Ferrell has his moments of comedy, most notably a scene where he drenches himself in dinosaur urine, but the comedic moments are few and far between. Ferrell is a master at creating characters, but they often are unable to hold one's attention span for longer then a few minutes, which makes him perfect for sketch comedy. Ferrell's characters falter in the timespan of a feature-length film, which is the reason his films often seem contrived and drawn out. Friel seems to be trying extremely hard in her role, playing the passionate, young student. Comedy is lost on her, and while the comedic duo of Ferrell and McBride should be enough, Friel becomes too much of a downer. McBride is the most successful in the film, playing a part he knows well, a ignorant country-loving man. McBride has burst onto the scene with films (Tropic Thunder, The Heartbreak Kid) and his television series (Eastbound & Down), McBride is a perfect counter to Ferrell's eccentric doctor, and McBride often takes the reins stealing scenes; saving the film from complete failure.
The Land of the Lost is another attempt to conjure up some of the magic that was so omnipresent in Anchorman: the Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega Nights the Legend of Ricky Bobby. The film does not live up to any hopeful prospects, the film does not come together and it becomes exhausting to sit through. While Ferrell has his moments, though few, and McBride saves the viewer from complete boredom, the film does not have enough to make it any more then simply satisfactory, but that would be generous. Viewers would probably have a better time rewatching the original television show, feel a little nostalgia, and not have to sit through a film adaptation that can't compare to the campy television show that inspired it.
To learn more about this film log on to: www.landofthelost.net
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