"Land of the Lost" (2009) - Movie Review

Sometimes I amaze myself by the seasoning towards the comedy I have seen. It is no different for various other genres too. Somehow I can see the suspense and the culprits as early as in the trailers tells that I indeed have acquired fragments of sixth sense in-terms of stereotypical shows coming out as kids films and blockbusters. It is good in a personal part but sad that I have lost facade of mindless enjoyment. “Land of the Lost” not alone reveals so easily on the supposed “suspense” which of course is not the power throttle but the jokes as old as prehistoric era. Coming from a talented director as Brad Silberling, this is a bad show.

“Land of the Lost” originating from the TV series in 70s is about a paleontologist Rick Marshall played here by Will Ferrell finds the “window” to the other dimension of space and time. Crazy insects, deserts by wild woods and the ominous T-Rex dinosaur exists in a suspecting world with multiple moons and primate humans with a language of their own. Marshall and team comprising of a tour guide of an abandoned theme park, Will (Danny McBride) and a young Marshall fan Holly (Anna Friel) as the process demands meet with these beings and develop a mission out of it to fill this vacuum film.

Will Ferrell is subdued considerably as he got to be the educated freak than well, a regular freak. Here he earns some laughs through Today Show’s host Matt Lauer and in those first and ending scenes, that is hilarious. Rest blows bad. The comedy fiasco goes from a primitive man Cha-Ka (Jorma Taccone) to the dinosaur beginning to develop a unique aversion to Marshall for saying it has little brains than brawn. With SleeSlaks, the upright lizard creatures with three set of jaws inside jaws and alien eyes with only one speaking Enik (John Boylan), I was wishing the journey end before even it began.

Ferrell looked to be controlling his usual instincts to go berserk. His over the top riot trip on doing the extreme things to drop couple of smiles on the viewers’ face have been ceded for a classy humour I believe. Jumping territories is not I am against at but doing it wrong and nonchalantly does not help the purpose. Ferrell seem to be lost as his fellow actor Danny McBride, both of whom have been a solid R-rated humour without any issues. Their focus audience here with being the school kids make them to be caged. Or that is how I saw them behave. Will Ferrell’s Rick Marshal stumbles on hundreds of situations wherein we would have seen the outraged maniacal man but we see a calmed down indifferent comedic actor.

I was not tickled but was fine with Cha-Ka being befriended and translated conveniently by Holly. I was not impressed but sustained the routes of doom and trap the group goes through chased by the T-Rex. Their failed humour in giving a character sense to the dinosaur did not annoy me that much. But when they let Holly to yell at the creature for being “insensitive” and a little too carnivores of eating the man, well I lost it. Are they out of their mind?

“Land of the Lost” is not a film I was really went in hating. I was quite indifferent when I began the show as I normally should be. I chuckled traditionally and dropped obligatory smiles for few of the sequences and the time never did stop. Not so much about the comedy, even the adventure is a ridiculous display of haphazardness. Having past that, I could not see the stuffing up of the “mission” of saving the universe out of the Sleestaks. “Land of the Lost” is no fun and no game.