Land of the Lost Review

Sid and Marty Krofft hold no special place in my heart. The same can safely be said for most of my generation. I don't mean that as a bad thing. The reality is H.R. Pufnstuf, Sigmund and the Sea Monster, Land of the Lost and Lidsville were never aired on television when I was young. When I finally did see H.R. Pufnstuf I was struck by how incredibly dull it was. Sure it looks like the greatest acid trip ever but all the characters ever did was talk and talk and talk. I imagine that this is just a generational thing. When the Krofft's shows aired there was nothing like them but now kids shows are required to be kooky and quirky (or on the serious side Anime-ed).



So the fact that the Land of the Lost movie seems to have been made with the loving care of people who grew up on the show is lost on me. Well, not totally since Land of the Lost is, all things considered, a funny movie. Unfortunately, it was completely mis-marketed and probably could have done with a new title since this is no ordinary children's TV adaptation. It's a weird stoner fantasy film that is a deliberately stilted retro throwback.

Dr. Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) is the foremost expert in the field of Tachyon particles and time warp that is until a disastrous appearance on The Today Show with Matt Lauer. Marshall's millions of dollars in research are gone and he is forced to be a tour guide at the La Brea Tar Pits. One day Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel), a Cambridge researcher, approaches Marshall and tells him that his theories are true and that she's found proof at a remote tourist trap run by Will Stanton (Danny McBride). At tourist site Marshall triggers a dimensional time warp and with-in 15 minutes into the move we are in the Land of the Lost.

This is no prehistoric world though. There are dinosaurs and caveman-ish people but the world is a Dada landscape meets live-action Looney Tunes movie. One particular chase scene feels like it's straight out of Duck Amuck, the meta Chuck Jones cartoon where Daffy Duck battles the animator. The only thing that slows the film down is when our heroes are given an actual mission to stop some mad scientist. I was hoping that Land of the Lost would ignore this calling and careen through more weird directions. Then again this film is already pushing all forms of marketability far away.

I said stilted before and I mean that only to the actors. All Ferrell, Friel and McBride are ridiculously restrained. It's as if they're acting in a children's television show in the seventies. Anyone thinking Ferrell would stop his man-child acting style is crazy. It's his bread and butter. Dr. Rick Mashall is a natural continuation of the man-child motif but fortunately Ferrell plays him in a whole other comedic key then Ron Burgundy. He's bafflingly serious and Friel backs him up all the way. Friel does as good a job as any women has in keeping up with the Ferrell brand of silliness but most importantly is really pretty to look at.

While Ferrell is at the point in his career where he needs to demonstrate new skills McBride is at the point where I just want to see more of him. Will Stanton is a role that McBride makes great. He's essentially the audience's anchor since he's the one constantly questioning and pointing out just how ridiculous what's going on. McBride's brand of redneck machismo and knack for irreverent metaphors is truly a gift.

There's a lot of good reasons why Land of the Lost bombed so badly but the main one is that it's a weird damned film. Imagine if that Lost in Space remake a few years ago was actually as crazy as the show. (There was an episode where the entire crew was slowly turning into vegetables.) That's sort of what like Land of the Lost is. The other reason is that Land of the Lost is a required bong viewing film and you can't do that in a theatre.