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    Land of the Lost

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

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    “Land of the Lost” is a juvenile comedy that has some genuinely good things in it, but there’s nowhere near enough to make the movie bearable. A large portion of the film feels like it was slapped together to generate profits based solely on the somewhat familiar name “Land of the Lost” (this being a loose film adaptation of the television show) and the star of the movie, Will Ferrell.

    “Land of the Lost” is about three people who get sucked into a parallel dimension where dinosaurs, aliens and giant animals co-exist. Dr. Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) is a self-absorbed scientist who ruined his career babbling on about time warps and tachyons. Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel) is a student who convinced him to continue his experiments after his fall from grace. They are joined by a sleazy gift shop owner named Will (Danny McBride) into a place where death could come at any time from a race of creepy lizard men named Sleestaks… or an unusually intelligent Tyrannosaurus nicknamed “Grumpy”.

    A lot of the movie feels like Ferrell is doing the same old shtick, except instead of being a loveable goofball, or a dimwitted but earnest professional, he’s totally unlikeable. The opening scene of the film shows that the man spent 50 million of the United States taxpayer’s dollars and has nothing to show how his efforts. Yes, the man was right and that there are parallel dimensions out there, but the film plays this as if it’s a coincidence. A running joke with his character is that he is consistently wrong about everything. I couldn’t help but think that if the resources dedicated to this fool’s research had been giving to anyone else, the human race would benefit greatly. The fact that the fate of the world ultimately rests on his shoulders isn’t particularly funny; it’s frightening.

    What kills “Land of the Lost”, at least for me are the characters. There’s nothing to them except for the obvious jokes and their one defining characteristic. Chaka, a horrible creepy primate-like creature (played by Jorma Taccone) is hairy, horny and speaks in mumbo jumbo. Holly is knowledgeable in a way that is unbelievably convenient and is otherwise defined by the fact that she’s a woman. Her scientific knowledge feels more like a plot device because it’s doubtful that even the brightest scientific minds and the most knowledgeable palaeontologists would be able to easily translate the unwritten, primitive language of cave men after only a few minutes of meeting a specimen. I’d estimate that 75% of her jokes are based on the fact that her male companions are constantly groping her. There is even a scene where she shortens her pants to turn them into short shorts for no reason other than to show more skin. Our last “hero” is Will who is also horny and is knowledgeable about nothing, so basically an amalgamation of Cha-Ka and Dr. Rick Marshall. The last major characters are a villain with no personality whatsoever except to be evil the Tyrannosaurus Grumpy. If it weren’t for that dinosaur the film would be almost entirely devoid of laughs.

    Most of the movie’s jokes are so predictable that you won’t be able to prevent your mind from wandering. I found myself punching holes in the plot’s logic without even trying. For example, how are the Sleestaks supposed to pose a threat to Earth when they possess limited physical strength, little intelligence and can be easily defeated by a couple of regular civilians? How did the Tyrannosaurus, a creature that existed millions of years before humans understand English and know what a walnut is? Sure, some of the questions you start asking will be simple nitpicks, but as the pile of questions keeps growing, you realize that there is simply no logic to the movie whatsoever. The stakes are non-existent.

    It isn’t all bad, the special effects are pretty good, and there are some funny parts here and there. Whenever that Tyrannosaurus is on-screen, it elevates the film a lot. Despite having no dialogue whatsoever, it feels like the creature has a genuine personality. The sets look pretty good too and there’s a nice variety of creature seen in the film. That’s just not enough unfortunately. The gags are your typical stoner jokes or feature characters yelling and screaming a lot in the hopes that the louder and more frenetic it gets, the bigger a reaction it’ll get from the audience. They’re padding out the movie more than anything else. There just aren’t that many laughs in “Land of the Lost”. You’ll get bored as the predictable plot play out. It’s a bad Will Ferrell comedy, one with a few shining moments but not enough laughs to warrant a watch. (On DVD, April 20, 2014)

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    adamwatchesmovies@  25.3.2016 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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