Land of the Lost (Universal Pictures)
Movie of the Bored
Will Ferrell seems to be determined to ruin his career. He has seen less and less success with his last few movies and now Land of the Lost might be the nail in the coffin of his career. It certainly cant be considered a high point.
In this remake of the Sid and Marty Krofft TV series, Ferrell plays Dr. Rick Marshall, a man who firmly believes in time travel. This does not lead him to have a successful career. When he is finally reduced to teaching middle school science he is approached by a young woman named Holly (Anna Friel). She says she studied his theories at Cambridge and she believes in him.
Marshall and Holly take one of his time travel inventions and head to a location where the settings are right for an exploration. They end up at an amusement park of sorts run by Will Stanton (Danny McBride). Will, Marshall and Holly set out in a raft on an underground river and end up in an alternate universe of sorts.
This is a land where dinosaurs roam, monkey men run around, and lizard creatures try to rule the universe. One of the monkey men is befriended by Marshall and company. They call him Cha Ka (Jorma Taccone) and he becomes part of the group. The rest of the film is about their adventures and their efforts to get back to the present day world.
The presentation of this story is weak. Ferrell does his comedy bits and most of them fall flat. He plays Marshall as obnoxious where he should be loveable, stupid where he should be smart. He and Friel have zero chemistry between them. McBride is an afterthought in his role.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity, violence and sexual situations.
It is difficult to assess the audience for this movie. Little kids who might find fun and laughs in the physical comedy will be kept away by the crude language in the story. Adults who can accept the raucous brand of humor will be bored by the silliness of the actions. It is a lose lose situation across the board.
Will Ferrells career has been on a downward trend for his last few films. The question is, will this be the movie that basically finishes him off. Judging by what a yawner it is, the answer might be a resounding YES!!!
There are few reasons to like Land of the Lost and a lot of reasons not to. Will Ferrells overblown performance is one of the biggest negatives going for it. The silliness of the script is another. It looks like Land of the Lost is not going to be found by a very large audience.
I scored Land of the Lost a wandering 3 out of 10.
