It was a super-cheesy television show in the ’70s that featured some special effects so bad that they are almost legendary.  Now, Land of the Lost is remade as a big-screen vehicle for Will Ferrell, who is a funny guy… but his onscreen persona is really starting to grow tiresome.  The fact that the film is designed specifically as a vehicle for him is its first fault: the first of many.

Whereas the original television series cast Rick Marshall as the Park Ranger father of two, the film version casts him as a wacky scientist determined to prove his time warp theories to Matt Lauer and the rest of the skeptical world.  He’s about to give up when a beautiful British student named Holly comes along gushing over his theories and offering what could by physical proof of their accuracy.  In a one night binge, he completes his life’s work: a device that he believes could allow him to travel across time and space.

It is decided that the only place to cross over is a desert cave that has become a tourist trap run by a nutty entrepreneur named Will.  He takes Rick and Holly on a raft trip into the cave, where Rick’s “A Chorus Line” lyric-spewing machine causes “the greatest earthquake ever known,” sending them to a world filled with strange and prehistoric creatures: the land of the lost.

When I first heard of this project, I was intrigued.  There are a lot of story possibilities that can be taken from the television show’s premise, and the evolution of special effects can only benefit a world filled with dinosaurs and humanoid lizard creatures. Right?

Unfortunately, instead of developing any of these story possibilities, the plot exists more as a structure—a very loose one, at that—to join together scenes that attempt to take advantage of Ferrell and co-star Danny McBride’s comic riffing.  As for Holly, it seems she exists for the purpose of providing Ferrell’s Rick with a completely unbelievable love interest… and to somehow translate the ramblings of a monkey creature named Chaka, whom they befriend.

As for the special effects, well, for some reason the filmmakers decided they wanted to stick with the cheesy atmosphere established by the television show and maintain such simple elements of having the humanoid lizard creatures named Sleestaks to be played by men in rubber suits.  This is all well and good if the film had maintained this throwback theme throughout, but when contrasted against the fully computer generated dinosaurs that look like they were taken straight out of Jurassic Park, the nostalgia attempt just falls flat.

What is also lost in this remake is the fact that the original series was designed as somewhat of an educational program for children.  Now, given that the ninety-minute feature-film format that is not nearly as effective a format for kids’ education as a series of 22-minute shorts, I think straying from the educational premise was a must.  Still, it seems like the end result is less intended for kids than it probably should be.

Sure, the movie is littered with poop jokes and cheesy, cartoon-like action; and certainly, every frame looks like a kids’ movie, but the language was a bit of a surprise to me, even though I knew going in that it was a PG-13 movie.  Foul language and a shocking amount of sexual content may wind up being a turn-off for many parents who might think of taking their kids to this movie.  Of course, given the movie’s complete lack of entertainment value, that may just be the excuse they are looking for.

Land of the Lost is rated PG-13 for “crude and sexual content, and for language including a drug reference.”  I was surprised as to the sexual dialogue and foul language.  The style of the film definitely seems aimed at kids, but I think a lot of parents might have problems with it.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of Land of the Lost.