Land of the Lost

There's a lot of things I'm still trying to figure out about Land of the Lost. First of all, what audience is it targeting? Although the ad campaign seems to be signaling a family fun-fest, with goofy Will Ferrell being chased by funny dinosaurs, the movie is anything but family friendly. There are references to sex, masturbation, more toilet humor than the movie probably needed, and there's even an "F-bomb" dropped at one point, albeit a whispered one. Second, were the filmmakers trying to do a tribute of the campy Saturday Morning adventure show from the 70s, or a parody? It straddles the line and never finds the right balance. The most difficult thing I'm trying to figure out is how do I rate it?

I guess the most basic question to ask is did I laugh? Occasionally, yes, but nowhere near as I should have, and certainly nowhere near as much watching The Hangover. I laughed a lot during the early scene where Ferrell's character is on the Today Show, being grilled by Matt Lauer. Ferrell plays Dr. Rick Marshall, a "quantum paleontologist" who believes in alternate dimensions, and is working on a device that can open gates to those other worlds. The scene concerns Marshall trying to keep his cool as Lauer basically ridicules his theories, and dismisses him on live TV. The dialogue, and Ferrell's physical reaction and obvious uncomfortableness even being there are priceless. The movie cuts ahead to three years later, where Rick has now been reduced to teaching a science class to uninterested preteens. He is approached by a woman named Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel), a young scientist who actually believes in his theories and ideas, and wants to help continue them. Using his device, they discover a possible gateway to another world, which just happens to be located in the Devil's Canyon Mystery Cave - a tourist trap attraction run by a redneck named Will Stanton (Danny McBride). They enter the cave, only to discover their theory is all too real, and that the gateway does exist.

This is where our interest should pick up, but oddly enough, this is when Land of the Lost begins to lose steam. While there are still some funny one-liners here and there, there is no sense of adventure, wonder, or real wit. It also seems to lose all sense of plot right about the point they enter the alternate world. Oh sure, there's some business about a race of lizard people called the Sleestak who want Rick's dimensional device to take over other worlds. There's also a T-Rex that pursues them whom they dub "Grumpy", who does indeed seem to hold a grudge against Rick for some reason, but really is just suffering from some intestinal blockage as we learn from a gross-out gag late in the film. Finally, there's Cha-Ka (Jorma Taccone), a "missing link" ape-human creature who talks gibberish (though Holly is able to understand him due to her work with apes), and is supposed to guide them through this strange new world, but mainly supplies the film with inappropriate drug and sexual humor. (He has a knack for touching Holly's breasts and humping Rick's leg.) The entire time they were in this strange dimension of dinosaurs, giant insects, and lizard people felt like it was completely improvised there on the set. Despite the credits telling me that two screenwriters worked on this (Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas), it's complete lack of plot and structure, and over-reliance on one-liners from Ferrell and McBride made me assume otherwise.

I got the sense that the studio had an unfinished script, and thought Ferrell's comedy and the nostalgia of the franchise would be enough to bring people in. While there is certainly comic energy to be found in certain scenes (most of which unfortunately have been given away in the trailers), it's just not enough. I liked the world that the set designers had created. It's a strange place where different races and time periods collide. I was intrigued by the scene where the heroes are walking through the desert, and pass by partially submerged motel and gas station signs, as well as fighter planes from past wars. Unfortunately, that's all the movie treats it as - background. It never stops to explain this world, or truly explore its possibilities. It seems like a cruel tease when we can see so much wonder in the background, but the movie focuses our attention on Will Ferrell sticking his hand down his pants for a little "self-pleasuring". Director Brad Silberling (Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events) does throw in some subtle references from the show for the fans, and has also given the film a charmingly low key look to its special effects. But, the whole product itself is so aimless and sometimes uninspired that it's hard to pay attention even to the stuff that does work.

So, back to the question on how to rate it. While the movie is heavily flawed, it did have a certain anarchistic sense of humor that appealed to me. Even when the gags did not hit, I admired the movie for at least trying. There are also some funny throwaway lines. I liked it when the heroes entered a seemingly-endless plane of existence hidden within a small space, and one of them commented that it was like Snoopy's doghouse. Also, you should understand that I was never a fan of the original TV program. When I was a child, the show was in reruns, and quite frankly I was more interested in the adventures of He-Man, G.I. Joe, and the Autobots. Therefore, I cannot really claim to know how the nostalgic fanbase will react. I can only judge it on my own reaction, which is severely mixed. I liked some of what I saw, and was less interested in other parts. Land of the Lost is the reason why I don't give an official rating for the movies I review with stars or an overall score. It's neither a success nor a failure.

But, if it really came down to it, I would probably give it two stars out of four. It comes dangerously close to being offensive at times, but manages to keep a certain bizarre charm. I have a feeling that a lot of this movie's problems stem from the editing room, and no one being really sure which way to take the film. It ends up being pulled in all directions, and never really seems that sure of itself. Or maybe the wonder the movie needed just wasn't there to begin with. Land of the Lost may not be a great movie, but it's given me a lot to think about.

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