Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009
"land of the lost"
For those die-hard fans of the original Saturday morning show that feel betrayed by this loosely-based film: C'mon, it was an awful show. It had terrible acting, super-bad special effects and laughable plots and the show tried to take itself way too seriously. The original show was a stoner's dream, 30 minutes of "did you just see that, man?" So really what could be messed up by turning it into a film starring Will Ferrell and Danny McBride? Ferrell is perfect for taking campy plots with goofy characters and making icons of them. Ron Burgundy of "Anchorman" and Ricky Bobby from "Talladega Nights" are evidence of this. But there is something here that is not quite iconic. Maybe, it is because he has done these oblivious egoists one too many times. Maybe, it is because in the past, we were just asked to accept his unbelievable characters in our realities instead of the alternate reality that "Land of the Lost" creates. Maybe, it is because this movie is just not that funny. There are funny situations - the feud between Matt Lauer and Ferrell - the relationships between the creature, Chaka, and Ferrell - the use of show tunes by straight actors and McBride's one liners. McBride has really come into his own with his HBO show "Eastbound and Down" and this film just feels flat in the scenes he is not in. That is the best way to describe "Land of the Lost": lost flatland with a few mounds of funny. Rent it, if you are a fan of Ferrell or McBride or if you were one of those stoners that loved to laugh at the original but for some reason just can't remember what is was about.