> Land of the Lost
Director: Brad Silberling
Cast: Will Ferrell, Anna Friel, Danny McBride, Jorma Taccone, Matt Lauer
Rating: (PG) Movie reviews
4 stars (out of 5)
Reviewed by Christine Powley
There is no point in going to a Will Ferrell movie if you are not amused by his comic character of the pompous man-child with a heart of gold.
This lends a certain sameness to most of his films.
Land of the Lost (Rialto and Hoyts) is Ferrell as usual, but because it plonks him into an entirely different environment it feels fresher than most of his recent movies.
Brilliant scientist Dr Rick Marshall (Ferrell) has some pretty way-out theories about the possibility of time travel.
The scientific community laughs at him, but Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel) from Cambridge University believes and encourages him to field-test his machine (which looks like a piano accordion and plays show tunes from A Chorus Line).
Before you can say "what's that strange light over there?" they are sucked into an alternative plane of existence where the past, present and future co-exist - the land of the lost.
In no time they have befriended a monkey man (Jorma Taccone) and earned the hatred of a Tyrannosaurus rex, which takes exception to Marshall constantly telling everyone how small his brain is.
In other words there is no real plot, just a series of random jokes.
If you are a fan of the old Land of the Lost television series you are going to hate this, but if you are in the mood for goofy silliness it will hit the spot.
Best thing: Seeing how much Will Ferrell monkey business is sneaked into the old "help, a dinosaur is chasing me" plot.
Worst thing: The PG rating is going to lead to a lot of 6-year-olds seeing this. Afterwards they may need some parental guidance - some of those monsters are scary, and there are a few sexual references.
See it with: Your inner teenage boy.
