Land of the Lost

Based on the cult television series, Land of the Lost follows scientist Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) as he and two stragglers (Anna Friel’s Holly Cantrell and Danny McBride’s Will Stanton) fend for their lives after taking a trip into an alternate universe. It’s clear almost immediately that Land of the Lost has been geared solely towards adolescent boys, as the film boasts a pervasively puerile sensibility that’s reflected in virtually all of its attributes – with the eye-rollingly over-the-top performances and emphasis on gross-out gags and jokes effectively perpetuating the atmosphere of excessive silliness. Director Brad Silberling’s surprisingly inept visual choices inevitably exacerbate the movie’s plethora of failings, with the filmmaker’s head-scratching reliance on shaky camerawork resulting in an ostentatious, lamentably low-rent vibe that’s compounded by some seriously underwhelming special effects. The admittedly talent cast’s ongoing efforts at wringing laughs out of Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas’ stale, hopelessly meaningless screenplay fall uniformly flat, and there’s little doubt that the scripters’ obstinate refusal to even temporarily ground the proceedings in reality ensures that Land of the Lost ultimately feels more like a series of loosely-connected sketches than a full-fledged movie. It’s consequently not surprising to note that the film inevitably establishes itself as one of the most interminable, desperately unfunny comedies to come around in quite some time, thus ensuring that even Ferrell’s die-hard fans will find themselves struggling to find something worth embracing here.

* out of ****