Thanks for checking out our Land of the Lost review. If you’d like to see a video version of our Land of the Lost review you can check it out at the bottom of this post.
There are many movies made from old TV shows that make s collectively ask “WHY!?!?!” However, Land of the Lost is not one of those for me. The old show was a campy and cheesy, yet kinda fun show with a solid premies for a movie behind it. Add Will Ferrell to the cast and you potentially have a winner, and certainly a box office giant right? Well no… not even a little bit. This movie was terrible.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The synopsis for Land of the Lost looks something like this: “On his latest expedition, Dr. Rick Marshall (Ferrell) is sucked into a space-time vortex alongside his research assistant (Friel) and a redneck survivalist (McBride). In this alternate universe, the trio make friends with a primate named Chaka (Taccone), their only ally in a world full of dinosaurs and other fantastic creatures. Can they all make it back to our world alive, and if so: Will Dr. Marshall can go from zero to hero with his discoveries?”
THE GOOD
You could have changed several of the characters around and no one would have blinked or cared. You could have even changed the name of the lead character and hardly anyone would have noticed. BUT… you HAD to get the Sleestak right if you’re going to do a Land of the Lost movie. And man they really did. In the movie they stayed completely faithful to the Sleestak of the TV show and made some improvements to them at the same time (they did some great CGI stuff with their mouths that looked pretty good).
In any Will Ferrell movie you can usually safely expect at least a few good one liners and laughs, and sure enough there are a couple of those scattered throughout the movie (not many mind you… but a couple). For me, one of the funnier moments of the film is one we see in the trailer with Ferrell getting sucked on by a giant mosquito… except that it was even funnier in the film.
That’s about it.
THE BAD
I started getting really tired of Will Ferrell’s schtick a while ago. I wasn’t a fan of Talladega Nights, or Blades of Glory or Semi Pro (at all). He’s the exact same Will Ferrell in every single movie. Then out of nowhere he does Step Brothers that I almost cried at because I was laughing so hard. I thought Ferrell had returned to form. Sadly, it didn’t last long because he’s back to the tired same old Schtick again. Like in Semi Pro he had no life, no enthusiasm. He was just dead in the movie ALMOST everything he said you could have predicted. I understand that in a PG-13 movie his hands are tied a lot more than they are in an R rated comedy like Step Brothers… but regardless of the reason, Ferrell just didn’t work. Maybe he should lean more towards the R stuff for a while.
If someone purposefully made a “bad” movie and succeeded… you still call it a bad movie. Despite the fact that the Sleestak’s looked pretty good, the rest of the movie looked really cheesy. Some people suspect this might have been on purpose… but if that’s the case it only makes it worse There is no excuse for making crap look this bad.
Land of the Lost is supposed to be a comedy… and it’s just not funny. Yes it has its moments… but the moments are few and far between.
The action in the film was pretty weak too. I lost count of how many times we saw Ferrell running away from something BIG… then cut to another angle and suddenly the thing chasing him is even further away. Constantly using that exact same mistake took any of the tension or excitement out of the movie. Why get my heart pounding when I know in two seconds the T-Rex will magically be 200 yards further behind him. If was strange the first time it happened… then it just got flat out annoying.
OVERALL
Overall Land of the Lost is pretty much just a waste of 2 hours. A comedy that’s not funny with some action that’s not exciting. That pretty much sums it up. I sure hope Ferrell can return to form for his next project, because I find myself almost ready to give up on him again. Overall I give Land of the Lost a 3 out of 10.
You can watch the video version of our Land of the Lost review below
Jon I truly hate you
The technical quality [of the effects] has improved, but the inherent cheesiness of the saucer-eyed Sleestak remains intact.
I thought the scene where Will Ferrell and Danny McBride sing that famous Cher song while touching the vibrating crystal pylon was hilarious.
Probably the only one who thinks this movie was funny. This new version of Land of The Lost never takes it self seriously, unlike the original which was unintentionally funny, yet it had serious family drama themes. This new LOTL is better with Ferrell and McBride than it would have been as a family adventure with Bruce Willis playing scientist dad, Zack Ephron playing near adult son and Abigail Breslin playing the young daughter(would have been a money maker, though).
I think its better than the unnecessary remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.
I agree with this review but would have given it fewer stars. I made the mistake of taking my child thinking, since it was based on a CARTOON from my childhood, it would be safe. With Will Ferrell, I figured there would be a little bathroom humor but was completely unprepared for the depth of the raunchiness for a movie previewed for kids. This could have been fun and campy but it was HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE. Ferrell was wooden and the guy he plays of of (I guess the guy from Step Bros was unavailable and would have been equally unappealing) was WORSE! The fact that it came in THIRD in the summer on opening weekend against says a LOT! This is 2 hours and $20 of my life I want back. I was sad that Nimoy lent so much as his voice to his. Tragic!
I gave this a 0.5 out of 5. Worst film of the year, it just is awful…
Actually,
I really enjoyed “LOTL John. Not bad… could’ve
been a little better but the audience and I were
laughing quite a lot so, not a disaster in my
opinion. Overall, a nice time at the movies.
Also, I have to say… the FX were really AWESOME!
Not once did they take me out of the movie
experience. The only distraction (in a good way)
in the movie and making me wander about in my
mind was that Babe of an Actress… Anna Friel!!!
Smoking Hot in my opinion…!!!!
Man, that chic had my mind wandering a lot of
times… ha ha ha Beautiful woman…!!! Anyway,
had a good time and looking forward to Will’s
next movie.
Overall… I give it a 6 out of 10.
Have a great evening,
~B
I agree, i wasn’t that impressed. I went to see it because i thought it would be good since it had Will Ferrell in it. But it just goes to show you the writing is key to a movie and the actor can’t do it alone. Movies like this turn me off from “blockbuster type movies.” I’d rather rent an indie film or go to the LA film festival. At least there, you get to watch a good quality movie for like 12 bucks or free.
I must say i never liked will ferrel, cant stand him…liked him in stranger than fiction though.
Oh well. Maybe some intrepid porn producer will give us “Land of the Lust”.
I guess I am in a huge minority here, because I liked the movie. It had a lot of raunchy humour which won me over. And so what, Ferrell is Ferrell. He has proven that he can change faces (Stranger than Fiction) and that he can still be extremely funny (Step Brothers). And now he, according to everyone else, is going back to being Will Ferrell (Land of the Lost). The guy has proven himself to be versatile, so why the complaints? I find it funny that MANY COMMENTERS just repeat what John Campea says. I am not saying you guys don’t have similar opinions, but come on. It’s like you guys kiss his ass. No offense John, because I am a fan of you and your opinion most of the time.
I think Ferrell is funny he just chooses the wrong movies to do. For example STEP BROTHERS, which was co-written by Ferrell. Which shows HE CAN be funny. He just picks the wrong movies.
“why” is right!
for some reason i like watching these negative reviews much more than positive ones. Maybe it’s just me.
If I were a Hollywood bigwig, and someone pitched a ‘Land of the Lost’ live-action movie to me, the first thing *I’d* think of is a comedy starring Will Ferrell. I mean, it’s a no brainer. [/sarcasm]
The original show had some seriously cheesy FX, but the underlying plotlines actually had some merit (at least the first 2 seasons — season 3 was pure ass.) Was pretty heady stuff for Saturday mornings.
I think if they were going to resurrect this property, they should’ve followed Battlestar Gallactica’s example — keep a few classic things that work (Sleestaks, primitive world, time travel) then toss the rest out and start fresh. Could’ve been an entertaining sci-fi/action flick in the vein of Jurassic Park.
I don’t agree with how John rated the movie, but I also can’t fault his complaints, because for the most part they are valid.
It will basically come down to this on Land of the Lost: if you like will Ferrell and Danny McBride, you will likely enjoy this movie, but if you have issues with them, you won’t enjoy it. Most of the movie is them working off each other.
I enjoyed the movie more than John did, it was an average funny movie to me (made more average by me also seeing the Hangover and Drag Me to Hell this weekend also, both of which were tons more funny). I would say Land of the Lost is a 5 out of 10, because it isn’t great and isn’t horrible it is distinctly average. That said I can see lowering it 2 points to a 3 if you are tired of Will Ferrell.
I can’t even begin to remember the last good Will Ferrel movie…Talladaga Nights? That long ago? Wow.
Not a fan of Will Farrell, so had no intentions of seeing this; however, there were a few scenes in the trailer that almost made me curious… not enough to fork out the cash to see it, but curious none-the-less. Only movie I have seen of Farrell’s where he played the lead that I liked was Stranger Than Fiction. Similarly my favorite Jim Carey movie is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but I at least like several of his comedic roles.
That said, I finally got to see “Up!” this weekend, and saw it in 3D. That movie seriously blew me away. Though the 3D gives everything a slight yellowing tint, the effects were amazing. None of that cheesy pop-out-of-the-screen goofiness that usually accompanies 3D flicks. Loved every second of it.
Waiting to go into the theater I watch hordes of people walking into the Land of the Lost theater. I felt sorry for them. On the other hand, I saw a grip of people walking into The Hangover as well… which I will hopefully see in a couple weeks when I can use a free pass. Looking forward to that one.
Wow, and I thought this might actually be funny. Oh well.
I agree that Will Farrell needs to give up or do something new. His only good movies are the ones he makes with Adam McKay.
By what you said in your review I would’ve expected you to give the movie a 2 not a 3
Hahahahahaaaaaa I was waiting on this. I wasn’t going to see this anyway.
I think we are seeing the effects of the strike this summer. There’s been a bunch of disappointments so far, and I think we’ve got a few more to go.
You know Kristina, now that I think about it, you’re right.
X Men Origins- Meh. (Although I thought the trailers looked horrible so to me it wasn’t really disappionting)
Terminator 4- Disappointing
Not at all surprised about this one here. I myself am getting tired of will Ferrel, and am I the only one who did not like Step Brothers that much? I keep having to watch SNL for him to make me laugh again
its the summer of 2007 all over again
Besides Up and Star Trek, yeah, not many films this summer aren’t too good. I liked Terminator 4, but everything else that sucked…well, sucked.
What!? Are you guys kidding?! This summers movies rule!
And 07 ruled too! Live free or die hard, transformers, Spiderman 3 (FU i liked that movie lol)
And Transformers 2 is next! WOOOT! YEAH!
I usually judge how good a movie is based on how many bathroom breaks I make during a movie. I hold it if a movie is great (the hangover), with LandoftheLost I gladly left several times. What a boring movie, I could of cared less what was going on in the movie. In fact the only thing that stood out to me was all the people that were offended when Ferrell says he loves someone more than Christ did on the cross.
Hey, no offense meant here, but do you have to piss that much during movies? Haha.
Well, at least he wasn’t pissed off.
If you are serious about judging a movie on bathroom break then you are an idiot. What you are in a really good movie that is 3 hours long? Do you get up and go to the bathroom still if you have to go?
I remember during Lord of the Rings the Two Towers, I had to pee from about the halfway point on, but just held it, not the greatest choice I ever made.
I don’t judge a films merits on bathroom breaks though.
Matt S,
I had somewhat of a similar experiece w/ the first one, and thats why I waited to see the others on dvd.