Brad Silberling’s latest adaptation is a silly, funny, and fun adventure tale that uses all of its assets to great effect, from the actors, the camp silliness of the original show, and the tongue in cheek fun of the premise.
Dr. Rick Marshall believes in quantum paleontology, time travel, and parallel universes. Upon writing his book and appearing disgracefully on the Today Show, Marshall becomes the laughing stock of society over his taceon time travel machine and theories left to pander to children working at the La Brea Tar Pits. When a young and attractive British graduate student, Holly Cantrell, comes to meet Marshall and tells him how his work inspired her to study all of his work, he gets the boost he needs to finish his taceon machine. The two set out to a site Holly informs Marshall of that has high taceon energy and the two of them and their local guide Will are thrust into a worm hole of some sorts that takes them into another dimension where past, present, and future all exist together. The threesome is trapped in the dimension due to the loss of the taceon device that got them there and enlisting the help of a local ape looking man, Cha-ka, the begin on a search for their chance to head home.
Now there is a bit more intrigue to the story beyond this, but the story isn’t the main reason we are here, we are here to enjoy some good silly fun with a couple of the best comedy actors working today. And Silberling and crew deliver in spades with a nice tight script that scurries along to get us to the Land of the Lost and is filled with a number of quality jokes from start to finish. The film relies on well written jokes and improvisation from the leads and doesn’t crutch itself on poorly conceived sight gags that the trailer sells it as. The film is nothing like what the trailer is selling it as and is actually quite the fun little adventure with a lot more going for it then a CGI T-Rex running around. The T-Rex in questions is actually a fairly realized character that works well for the picture and is used to very good effect for some solid laughs.
The film is also very self aware of what it is and what it is trying to do which really allows us to just sit back and have fun at the silliness unfolding for us. Everyone involved is in on the joke and even while they are poking fun a bit at the original show they embrace the world that was created by it and have some good, goofy, fun in said world.
The few actors in the film though are all solid as well which really helps one enjoy the picture. Now, I understand some people just don’t “get” or like Will Ferrell and Danny McBride, but for those of us that do there is a lot to enjoy here. First off though, props to Jorma Taccone who plays the ape boy/man Cha-ka as he creates quite a bit of humor using nothing more than his arms and legs. And I am also glad to see Anna Friel get a big time movie to show off in because she is great and needs to be in far more stuff. She is a rugged and adventurous scientist here and is there more for looks than humor, but she provides some laughs along the way and is excellent eye candy to boot. Now to the boys in which Will Ferrell and Danny McBride just get to have some fun doing what they do best at being silly, crude, and a bit over the top; but without becoming to much of a caricature and keeping the characters grounded as someone you could meet in the real world. Now granted, these guys aren’t doing anything terribly original, especially for them, but they are doing what the do very well and if you are a fan you are going to have some fun.
In the end, Land of the Lost is a fun and silly adaptation of the original series. There are plenty of laughs and the film moves right along and never overstays its welcome. There are a couple of real surprises and one or two great scenes in the film but it doesn’t excel to a level of greatness that all three of our main actors have participated in. That said, if you are fans of the two male leads comedy, or the Anna Friel’s body of work they all do a good job and there is enough fun and homage to the original show for fans of the series to enjoy themselves as well. There are a few movies I would recommend that are out before I would send you along to this one, but if you enjoy the parties involved you will not be disappointed with this one in the end.
Land of the Lost is a B-