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96 out of 131 people found the following review useful: What did you expect??, 6 June 2009 Author: john-kim-howard from United States
I could tell from the trailers that if you were not a committed Will Ferrell fan, or stoned out of your mind, that this movie would probably be trashed by the experts. You either find his absurd comedy funny or find it a senseless insult to your intelligence. For me, there were a couple times when I really laughed out loud (and I was sober as a judge), most of the time I simply had a smile on my face as I watched the master make a complete fool of himself - which is what Will Ferrell does. I read some of these in-depth critiques in utter amazement. I mean, really, what were you expecting to see? It is a very light hearted spoof of one of the most ridiculous TV series in history. Generally, I thought it was funny, we've been repeating some of the funnier, albeit, totally ridiculous scenes all day. I do strongly caution parents with children. When Will Ferrell says PG-13 he isn't kidding. Sexual innuendo and drug references are going to be quite uncomfortable for the prudish crowd.
98 out of 172 people found the following review useful: Entertainment gets lost, 3 June 2009 Author: C-Younkin from United States
"Land of the Lost" is another in a long line of old TV shows lazily packaged into summer movies, too dumbed-down for fans of the original show and nothing all that memorable for those younger viewers coming into it for the first time. There is no doubt it will join the class ("Bewitched"-which Will Ferrell also was in, "Dukes of Hazard" and "Wild Wild West") of films so bad that they make "The Brady Bunch Movie" look like the "Ben-Hur" of the genre. There is just zero reason to care about anything in this movie. Will Ferrell, you should have known better. Ferrell plays Dr. Rick Marshall, a paleontologist disgraced by what others call his nonsensical theories about space-time vortexes. The only one who cares to believe him is Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel), a research assistant from one of those fancy British universities who encourages him to keep working on his tachyon thingie-majigger, a device that finds tachyon particles that somehow allow people to jump between worlds. They find the most amount of the stuff in a crappy little souvenir shop run by a redneck named Will (Danny McBride), and before they know it Marshall, Holly, and Will are traveling back to another dimension that's all desert. The place is complete with T-Rex, creepy-crawly bugs, a bunch of things from our world littered about like a stretch limo, Bobs Big Boy and Golden Gate Bridge, and a primate named Chaka (Jorma Taccone) who befriends them and helps them navigate their way back to their dimension. What needs to get lost is the screenplay by Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas. When Matt Lauer, playing himself, is the funniest thing in a movie, you know that something went horribly wrong. The laughs are childishly inane. Ferrell is forced to embarrass himself considerably, in one scene drenching himself in, and yes, even drinking dinosaur urine. Dino poop and gross insect infections also get high regard. Then you have Chaka, a supposedly lovable primate who's big comic bit is molestation. Hilarious! And this is the big-laugh stuff. The rest is hard to even remember. That this movie manages any chuckles at all is due to Ferrell and McBride's improvisation abilities. Ferrell is the arrogant goof-off and McBride the brash sidekick, but they're facing an uphill battle with this screenplay.And the plot…wait, what plot? And what character development for that matter? It's all very basic, aimless, and easy to follow, except you'll be too bored to do so. Characters run around like idiots, dinosaurs and insects chase after them, not much happens. And when not being chased, the aimlessness doesn't stop, it just gets more persistent. A scene where Marshall, Will, and Chaka sit around in a stupor getting high off of some coconut drink (yes, this is a family movie) is unbelievably drawn out, unnecessary, and above all, pointless. Finally in the third act the Slestaks, reptilian villains bent on world domination, start to put their plan into effect but even then it's too little, too late to care. The special effects are cheesy. I'm assuming that was the plan cause the show was the exact same way but what you can see at home for free and what your willing to pay for are two different things. A dinosaur against an obvious green screen isn't much fun and little green reptilian men in obvious costumes and masks that barely move, other than to open and close their mouths, are hard to take seriously. "Land of the Lost" is just lost, misguided in every way, starting with even deciding to make the movie in the first place. It deserves to be shunned and left to be the summer's first big box-office bomb. Ferrell, McBride, and Matt Lauer are the only things that keep it from being horribly unwatchable but not from being one of the very worst of the summer and the year thus far.
41 out of 59 people found the following review useful: Watch and decide for yourself., 10 June 2009 Author: bvrhodes
This movie is definitely better then most of the reviews on this page have been saying. From reading the comments it seems like it is mostly due to parents bringing their kids to see a movie including an actor from movies such as Old School and Anchorman and getting mad when they see crude humor. If you like Will Ferrell you will like most jokes in this movie, it is very funny and in my opinion close to The Hangover. This movie is not supposed to be taken seriously and as long as you don't try to compare it to the original show and go along with it you will laugh. Go in with an open mind and don't listen to the critics this movie is for sure worth checking out.
40 out of 61 people found the following review useful: Much better than i expected!, 23 June 2009 Author: tommy_68 from United Kingdom
I have just watched 'Land of the Lost' and i was curious to find out what everyone else thought about it. As i was expecting to see a family, comedy film i was pleasantly surprised that it was not just your ordinary clichéd family movie but something aimed for a slightly older audience. This maybe why it was so poorly received.Looking at trailers and TV spots, this movie did really look like just another pointless summer blockbuster, which may have appealed to all you people looking for something family friendly. But for me i was so thrilled to be watching something that is just plain FUN! That's all it is! just fun, fun, fun!You people that have posted nothing but negative comments about this title don't know a great movie if it slapped you in the face. so relax a little, sit back again and realise that your watching another fantastic movie from will ferrell, and lets face it: when has will ferrell released a movie for families? (excluding ELF)Just stop your complaining and enjoy a non-stop, exciting, unpredictable movie that has everything you could ask for. and even more---- what do you really expect from a movie based on a TV show created by someone who practically lived off acid? Three words to sum up this movie: trippy, adventurous and fun!
28 out of 44 people found the following review useful: We Actually LAUGHED.....A Lot!, 8 June 2009 Author: Minou07 from United States
First I must state that I am NO fan of Will Ferrell. Outside of his SNL days of doing a dead-on spoof of Bush, Ferrell hasn't made a movie that I wanted to see. After reading these reviews I was even more set on avoiding it. However, I decided to suffer thru it for my sis's birthday. To my surprise, we laughed quite a lot at the sweet goofiness of this movie. I agree that they could have cut out the useless mature sights and words that left the kids out because it would have appealed to them. We particularly loved the scenes between Farrell and the obviously more intelligent Dino. Danny McBride was sweetly silly too. The female actress was okay as eye candy for the guys. All the criticism on this site is for people who place stock on what others have to say. Happy to say, we avoided these critics. By the way, if you hated the movie so much, why spend so much of your time to write such long-winded diatribes??? Seems to me these are people who need to feel a sense of importance that they don't have. Oh well, the movie goer should always make up their own minds. We did, and I'm happy to say it turned out well. We really laughed!! And my sister is not one to laugh easily. I just wish they wouldn't show so much of the sight gags in the commercials for the movie. But don't let that keep you away. There's more context for the funny parts in the movie.
24 out of 39 people found the following review useful: Ignore the critics, enjoy the psychedelic ride!, 9 June 2009 Author: filmworldfan from United States
This was a great movie.The visuals were superb! My girlfriend and I are both big fans of the original 1974 series and we had a fun time. We went into the theater having heard all the negative reviews, expecting a horrible film. Glad we ignored the critics. It doesn't deserve the rap it's getting and if this is the movie Sid and Marty wanted then that's fine with us. It's their creation and we enjoyed their take on it. I can't help but think that a more serious treatment might have been more pleasing to hard-core fans like us but a film has to span the masses so we understand the direction they went. Now bring on the Sony H.R. Pufnstuf movie!
22 out of 37 people found the following review useful: Another Ferrell movie, 11 June 2009 Author: eric-fulcher from United States
What I hate about people is how they don't give Will Ferrell a chance. He's a funny man. Granted not all his works are great, but neither were all of Chris Farley's or Adam Sandler's."Land of the Lost" is worth the ticket price because it's funny, random, most likely improvised and holds true throughout. Granted the last half hour is a bit of a drag compared to the first hour, the movie is still full of laughs and unbelievably original story-line.Yes the costumes are weak in detail, and the whole interaction between the humans and animals is far-fetched, but that's the whole point of the comedy: it's supposed to make you laugh.All those people expecting their 1970's TV show to be revived can get a life. The movie is good, definitely makes a good rental, and I enjoyed it.
14 out of 22 people found the following review useful: A very good sci-fi Comedy*, 6 September 2009 Author: lewey1988 from United Kingdom
I cannot believe after watching this film that it is rated 5.5 or less, so I start reading the reviews and I find ratings of 1/10...seriously...why can't people give this film a realistic rating. OK if you thought the film was bad give it a low rating, but 1/10?? there are numbers in between 1 and 10. I thought Love Actually was one of the worst films I ever saw but I would give it at least a 3. All I'm asking for is abit of consistency take a look at another film I really hated - Crank high voltage 2 rated above 6 how are these scores accurate?? you're telling me that crank is funnier than this film...I can't accept this, so here I am I've signed up at IMDb because of the unfair ratings this film is getting.Anyway about this film I thought it was kind of similar to hitchhikers guide to the galaxy but not really aimed towards kids both in my opinion were great films.Key point to this rant**if you do not like sci-fi comedy don't watch this film** even more important if you disregard my last comment Do Not then go on IMDb and then think oh I don't like this film so I will vote it 1/10 because I didn't know there are any other numbers apart from 1 and 10.I read another review about how this film had no plot...are plots key to comedies?? uh no. Also this person stated his kids found it boring, is this a kids film?? not really. One more thing there are quite a few saying this film was not very intelligent...have you watched crank 2?? if you expected to watch a film with an intelligent plot and intricate story lines watch death note this may satisfy thirst but then again it probably won't. Because how people can say this is for people with low IQ and then these people will go on watch things like crank 2, quantum of solice with require even less intelligence than this film.
15 out of 24 people found the following review useful: Goofy but fun, 13 June 2009 Author: ivko from USA
I really enjoyed this movie; I think it might be the best Ferrell movie I've seen in a while. Yes it's goofy and silly, but I think a lot of the negative reviewers here are people who were fans of the original and are judging thru the haze of nostalgia. The original was every bit as goofy and ridiculous, it's just that this movie has the good sense to acknowledge it. And yes, it may not be appropriate for very young viewers as there is some sexual innuendo and cursing, but it does have a PG-13 rating so I don't know why you would be dragging young children to it anyways...'Land of the Lost' starts with a quirky and oddly arrogant scientist, played by Ferrell, claiming to Matt Lauer on 'Today' that we can solve our energy problems by tapping into inter-dimensional blah blah blah. Of course, no one believes him but a beautiful student from England (Friel) who convinces him to build his whatsit to open the portal to other dimensions. And of course they soon find themselves trapped in what appears to be a large dumping ground for inter-dimensional portals along with a yokel (McBride). From there it's just a journey across this strange land to find their way back home.I realize I'm glossing over a lot of details here but you really don't need to know them. The whole point is to get a kick out of the satire and broad physical shtick as they encounter the bizarre inhabitants of this world and react to them. If you don't get too hung up on the logic of it all and just roll with the jokes, I think it's quite good. And Ferrell, who I have often disliked in previous works because of his tendency to gnaw on the scenery, was reserved enough to deliver a good number of very funny scenes.In short, don't go to this expecting a children's film, a summer action flick, or something akin to the original. And, as with almost all Ferrell movies, don't go if you don't like physical humor. But do go if you are looking for a pleasant hour or two of goofy gags and simple fun.
11 out of 22 people found the following review useful: A twisted marriage of R rated rudeness and PG visuals, 15 July 2009 Author: simon-prometheus from Canada
Land of the Lost is the unholy bastard child of this years earlier cringe-fest Night at the Museum 2. It is more of the same tired, effects riddled, unfunny tripe. Just worse. While many would make the argument that Will Ferrel has lost his touch (many more would argue he never HAD a touch) he has proved to be a reliable presence this decade, and even with his lesser efforts always managed to add some spunk to the proceedings. But this adaptation of the schlocky television show from ages past is a twisted marriage of R rated rudeness, PG visuals and a plodding and often excruciating screenplay.Aside from the effects which are by all standards just fine, the only thing I can recommend about Land of the Lost is Danny McBride playing scientist Dr Rick Marshall's (Ferrel) tour guide (that being his profession before they were transported through space and time) but even his bizarre style of humour is quashed by the atrocious writing and his lack of screen time. Disgraced years before for supporting the theory of time travel, Rick Marshall has finally perfected a device that he believes can clear his name. Urged on by a female fan named Holly (Anna Friel) they travel to a serious of caverns in the desert where Rick believes his device will work. It is here they meet with McBride's character and they are subsequently sucked through a vortex to the land of the lost where they meet countless bizarre creatures including a ornery dinosaur, a primate named Cha-Ka and a strange race called the Sleestacks. But how to survive this strange world and return to the present? I have been witness to a great number of films which push the boundaries of a PG rating that often enrage parents of younger children who find certain humour inappropriate. But the transitions from goofy family fare to raunch in Land of the Lost are among the most jarring I have experienced as the profaneness and rudeness of certain jokes even managed to jerk me out of my stupor to do a double take. These segments are framed by potty humour and poo gags and connected by the characters journey which is nothing more than a series of lame encounters and near escapes which never progress the plot anywhere or are even amusing for that matter. What we are left with is a movie that feels twice its actual length and becomes so utterly obnoxious by the climax that you beg for more nights at the museum.Perhaps the most ironic thing about Land of the Lost is that it likely would have been better if the studio had purposely made the budget minute and make a full fledged goofy B movie instead of making a B movie into a blockbuster. There is also an odd divide between a film like this and for example Miss March. Both are awful, but are awful in different ways; Miss March is atrocious and Land of the Lost is misfire. In not being utterly incompetent it creates a twisted void that is not deserving of outward contempt but is almost worse as a result. It's likely unclear of what I am trying to convey so I will be blunt and simply tell you not to go see this movie. Unless you want a nap.Read all my reviews at: simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com
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