Land of the Lost is a fantasy film that is more of a comedy film with great special effects. Land of the Lost directed by Brad Silberling is a comedy film starring Will Ferrel and Danny McBride is fun, exiting and funny.
The story begins with a flashback of Dr Rick Marshall (Ferrel) on a talk show with Matt Lauer and humiliates himself. Years later he is a teacher and is not the respected scientist he once was. Holly Cantrell a student who studies his work convinces him to recreate a device he planned years ago named a tachyon amplifier that can travel to any destination in any dimension. After they go to the place where there are the most tachyons (which are needed to start the machine) they meet Will Stanton (McBride) who gives them a tour of a cave packed with tachyons. The machine works and all three end up in a world caught between space and time. It starts off slowly with them having to recue the most annoying character of the film Chaka some sort of monkey creature who Holly can somehow speak with. Then the action heats up with a super intelligent T-rex chase and forcing them to flee into a cave. Then they devise a plan to get the tachyon amplifier as it is their only way home. On their way they encounter many strange things and get caught in many dangerous situations, usually with hilarious scenes in-between. One scene has them come across a slightly visible large crystal that vibrates through their body to which they sing Cher’s Do You Believe. They encounter a being known as Enik a creature who needs the tachyon amplifier to help him escape his prison in non-space. It eventually leads to Many wild encounters and a plot twist that is one crazy adventure.
The acting in this film is pretty good with Will Ferrel giving a very funny performance and Danny McBride doing a good job of supporting him. Chaka the annoying monkey is just bad and the actor (Jorma Taccone) is OK but it is just an irritating performance. It is weird how none of the characters are even phased by some creatures in that they show no amazement or fear when the T-Rex is shown and when meeting Enik just seem to bond with him. The actors timing is a little off on jokes from McBride with some of them seeming a little late to be funny but Will Ferrel as always gives a great comedy performance.
The film is well written with they jokes being very funny and the action sequences enjoyable. The film has a few plotholes though. It is never fully explained how Holly can somehow talk to Chaka because she used to work at a zoo, she seems to have the privilege of being the first human who can perfectly understand a monkey. The film does have some odd moments. it seems to just put scenes in it so that they can be used for the trailer such as the giant crab that just randomly shows up and gets cooked by the ground. The films plot is easy to follow if a little thin and many scenes have nothing to do with the plot such as a scene where all of the main male characters play in a pool and take a drug inducing fruit resulting in them all being high. The film is also incredible adult for a 12A rated film. there are many swear words, breasts, bloody violence, drugs scenes and sexual hints. One scene that made me think that it was too adult was when they are talking about the vibrating crystal and McBride suggests that the female character sit on it. He makes these comments often.
Overall Land of the Lost is a comedy film that makes you laugh but is dragged down by the unlikeable characters of Chaka and Will Stanton, some weak gags from Holly and McBride and a thin plot. Will Ferrel gives a funny performance and the jokes in the films can be very funny. It is, however, pretty adult in some areas so people who want to protect there children better stay clear but otherwise its worth a watch.
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Production Year: 2007 - Science Fiction - Director: Francis Lawrence - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Dash Mihok, Will Smith, Salli Richardson, Willow Smith
Sep 27th, 2009
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