Land of the Lost | Teen Ink

Land of the Lost

January 16, 2010
By TheGothicGunslinger ELITE, Lakeland, Florida
TheGothicGunslinger ELITE, Lakeland, Florida
177 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
"To be great is to be misunderstood" - Ralph Waldo Emerson


I consider my opinion of Will Ferrell as I do my opinion of The Rolling Stones. Both have made some stuff I've liked, but I definitely wouldn't categorize myself as a fan of either. What I mean by this, both have come up with as just as many lame films/songs as they have good ones. Regardless, I really didn't have high hopes for this film to be begin with. The remake business of Hollywood has, for some reason, become quite popular in the last decade. Instead of checking out, oh, I don't, know, new ideas, we've just been revamping movies we've seen before - some not even ten or twenty years old.

Based on the show from the 1970's, Land of The Lost focuses on a zany, though head-strong, scientist named Rick Marshall. According to him, his science revolves around quantum physics and paleontology, as he believes that time/space can be manipulated in order to travel through the continuum, to new worlds of the past or future. Laughed out by the scientific community, Rick eventually has to become an elementary school lecturer to get by. However, after being encouraged by a woman named Holly, Rick is able to build his time-traveling device. It doesn't take long for the two, soon accompanied by a redneck named Will, to end up in a fantastical prehistoric, albeit wacky, era of mankind.

The concept is, admittedly, quite silly. However, it's somehow able to work in its execution. Its visuals look rather sharp for a comedy as well, giving some flair to the 70's show. It's far from being a good movie, though, as the humor is really hit-and-miss. Not to mention most of the humor is comprised of physical humor, which is just forgettable and, to me, kind of boring. Ferrell, I thought, actually wasn't that funny in the movie. If anyone was the funniest, I'd have to say it'd be Will, played by Danny McBride, had tons of one-liners to spout off, though these are just as hit-and-miss.

In terms of story, this film fails. It's not that interesting, let alone memorable, and can be cringe-worthy at times, especially the forced-in melodrama and romantic subplot. It suffers from most of the problems most mainstream comedies seem to face, which are forgettable characters and "quick laugh" gags. One could argue that a comedy is meant to be funny and that characterization shouldn't be looked for in a film. Well, I'd argue that a supporter of such an argument check out films like The Big Lebowski or Wayne's World - both comedies with character. Heck, even 2009's The Hangover had character, which puts it way above this film.

Land of The Lost is really hit-and-miss. Sometimes it can be kind of funny, while other times it can just be pretty lame. It doesn't hold up in terms of a good comedy, so one's really not missing much with this movie.

3.5/10 - Bad


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