SYNOPSIS:
Comedic genius Will Ferrell stars as has-been scientist Dr. Rick Marshall, who gets more than he bargained for when his expedition takes a wrong turn into the Land of the Lost. Now, Marshall, his crack-smart research assistant Holly (Anna Friel) and a redneck survivalist named Will (Danny McBride), have no weapons, few skills and questionable smarts to survive in a world full of marauding dinosaurs, fantastic creatures and laugh-out-loud comedy!
MOVIE REVIEW:
With
"Land of the Lost", funnyman Will Ferrell has reached
a bottleneck in his career. For a movie that costs $100 million
to make, its culminated box-office’s taking is a paltry
$65 million, successfully achieving the title of being one
of 2009’s major flops.
Reprising his man-boy role for the umpteen
times, Ferrell plays scientist Dr. Rick Marshall whom to the
absurd of many believes in parallel time travel. When an enthusiastic
college student and fan of Marshall’s works, Holly (Anna
Friel) persuade Marshall to continue pursuing his theory,
the duo together with a small-time crook and amusement ride
operator named Will Stanton (Danny McBride) got themselves
pulled into a vortex and entered a strange universe where
time and space collide and strange creatures exist.
This pathetically unfunny 101 minutes movie
is based on a 70’s children television series (not that
anyone care a hoot as this is not a crucial ingredient that
makes a movie works) of the same name but the tone and storylines
have been drastically changed in this theatrical version.
There are no major elements here that will appeal to children
except for a primate-like creature Cha-Ka who ironically speaks
no English but sings in English, a T-Rex dubbed Grumpy that
chases after our three protagonists constantly, a race of
Alien-like creatures named the Sleestaks and the sole truly
funny sequence that involves a gigantic mosquito. And I forgot
to add it doesn’t appeal that much to the older crowd
either.
"Land
of the Lost" is a tiresome, excruciating boring movie
to watch despite the numerous colourful lavish set designs that pays
homage to the original TV series (again who will care a hoot).
Ferrell is at his usual routines minus the R-rated coarse
language and Friel is the disposable female lead. I seriously
don’t see the merits of McBride’s acting or comedic
skills and here he is adding on to the boredom by being an
irritating blabber on autopilot mode.
Director
Brad Silbering is no stranger to elaborate visual sets and
effects given he helmed the underwhelming "Lemony Snickets"
as well. You got to credit the man for all the rich technical
and production details except the plotline with fumbling characters
that do not make a slight attempt in engaging, tickle, amaze
and surprise the audience. This is the perfect example of
how a major Hollywood tentpole project can go wrong.
For
a better movie about time warp and vortex (and educational
to the kids if you insist), you might want to try Brendan
Fraser’s "Journey to the center of the earth".
At the end of the day, "Land of the Lost" is an
expensive misfire that I’m sure beheaded some executives
at Universal and expedites the death of Ferrell’s flagging
comedy career.
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
Deleted
Scenes last 7 minutes and the sad fact remains, none
of these are funny enough to be retained in this unfunny movie.
A Day in the Life of a Big-Time Movie Star is
supposedly a funny 11 minutes feature that follows Danny McBride
around the set, from makeup to filming to catering.
Devil's
Canyon Gift Shop Commercial And Tour is a faux commercial
tour involving Stanton's (McBride) souvenir shop.
Commentary with Director Brad Siberling is an involving
commentary track that has Siberling covering almost every
movie-making aspects of "Land of the Lost". But
since this is not interactive and pardon us for being rude,
we can’t question him why he made such a lousy summer
blockbuster.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
You
can’t really fault the visual transfer here for its
almost pristine presentation and the Dolby Digital mix is
aggressive and dynamic courtesy of Grumpy the T-Rex and suround
effects from mosquitoes to Sleestaks.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
Posted
on 15 December 2009 |
