Product Description

Comedic genius Will Ferrell stars as has-been scientist Dr. Rick Marshall, who gets more than he bargained for when his expedition takes a wrong turn into the Land of the Lost. Now, Marshall, his crack-smart research assistant Holly (Anna Friel) and a redneck survivalist named Will (Danny McBride), have no weapons, few skills and questionable smarts to survive in a world full of marauding dinosaurs, fantastic creatures and laugh-out-loud comedy!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9624 in DVD
• Brand: Universal Studios
• Released on: 2009-10-13
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Spanish, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.com
How to make a big-screen version of Sid and Marty Krofft's Seventies TV show? In this case, place the thing in the meaty hands of Will Ferrell and give the special effects a big upgrade. If you grew up with the show, you will recall that Marshall, Will, and Holly fall through a time warp into a land where dinosaurs roam and all kind of weird things grow. In this version, Ferrell plays a disgraced scientist, Anna Friel a brainy postgraduate, and Danny McBride (Pineapple Express) the sleazy owner of a desert tourist trap that happens to be home to the time portal. This begins to suggest how this movie wants to have it both ways: keep some of the original's kid appeal, but raunch it up just enough for fans of Judd Apatow's movies. The result is that nothing really works very well. There's no momentum to the plot, the locations are monotonous, and Ferrell and McBride are desperate in their attempts to generate something out of nothing. Granted, they succeed a few times--these guys are too funny to whiff completely--but the strain is visible. And although the effects, are competent, the movie can't even get its fantasy rules straight (why is the T. Rex sometimes ferocious and sometimes indifferent?). Fans of the show will enjoy hearing the cheesy theme song worked in (Ferrell performs a zonked version) and seeing how the movie updates the menacing Sleestaks. But on a basic level Land of the Lost has no idea what it's doing, or what it means to do. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

"Captain Kirk's nipples!"
"Captain Kirk's nipples!"

...and if that quote didn't tell you the new big budget big screen "Land of the Lost" film isn't exactly directed at the Saturday morning TV crowd... I fondly recall spending those mornings in the 70's with Will, Holly, Dr. Marshall and the Sleestak, so when I heard Will Ferrell would be taking the lead I was content in the knowledge that the campiness of the original Sid and Marty Kroft show would be preserved. As fate would have it this preservation extends even to the cheesy theme song which Ferrell nearly performs in one scene...this theme song pretty much covers the series and movie's premise...the aforementioned characters, on a "less than" routine expedition via an earthquake and a tachyon gadget (this part is new) end up in a parallel space they call the "Land of the Lost" complete with prehistoric critters and lizardmen. Unlike the series they need to find Dr. Marshall's misplaced gadget in order to get home, this leads to lots of mishaps and sight gags. But as I mentioned, this is not your father's "Land of the Lost" this is a Will Ferrell, albeit watered down, but nonetheless, a Will Ferrell film, so as you'd expect there is overt crude references flying aplenty, including hot Sleestak-on-Sleestak action (not really on screen), nothing to cringe-worthy...although some drug and vague sexual jokes.

"LOTL" is bookended by a "TODAY" show sequence in which Matt himself interviews Dr. Marshall about is kooky space/time theories and then again later interviews a vindicated Dr. Marshall at the movie's end. Dr. Marshall is classic Will Ferrell, the pompous, dimwitted boob he plays soooo well, so you know precisely what you will get upon entering the theater. This time he is a nutty paleontologist who has a strange fixation on "Chorus Line" and comfort food binges. "Land of the Lost" is more "Elf" than "Anchorman", I guess. What is new here is the digital dino and big bug eye candy, not really the norm for a Ferrell film, more in the spirit of Ringo Starr's "Caveman" than "Jurassic Park" though (especially the cave-boy-speak).

The kitsch aside, if possible, "LOTL" includes some impressive sets, some true to the original show, like the Sleestak ruins and some less Kroft, but equally cool, parallel world Bermuda Triangle parallel world clutter ala desert complete with missing ships, planes and gas stations. Also true to the Kroft look are the Sleestak lizard people (one of which is voiced by Leonard Nimoy a.k.a Spock) who look largely unchanged, but I'd have bought a ticket just for them anyway.

:)
I am a fan of the original series and when I heard about this movie, I was a bit disappointed. However, the movie does not make fun of the original series and, instead, gives it respect. The movie is surprisingly funny. It's how every actor in the movie "knows" it's just a fun movie and they all seem to have a good time. There are plenty of things thrown in for nostalgia for the fans of the original series. I recommend this movie.

I laughed! I was startled! I howled!
This film is not for impresionable children. It is an adult film/mature child/tween/teen film. It is a HUGE treat for fans of the show. My husband and I saw it with his childhood friend and his wife. All of them loved the original TV show and they loved the movie for so many reasons. Their 6 year old son was with too. He loved it too! I am a little to young to have watched the old show, but I LOVED the movie!

There is swearing and adult gesturing in the film and some adult themes that were not as blanketed as other childrens' films take the effort to do. It made me think of comparing Sesame Street to the adult musical Avenue Q.

Basically, this film is made by fans of the show, for fans of the show. It is so tongue in cheek with references to the old show and also takes the concept to places the old show could not go given the technology at the time.

Ferrell was hysterical and I liked him in this just as I liked him in Elf and Anchorman and as Ricky Bobby. The other actors were great too.

This film deserves to be reviewed with a light heart and expectations for a good time, and escape back to a childhood favorite with grown up additions.

I really look forward to the Blu Ray disc and I wish there were action figures for my fanboy spouse to buy!