LAND OF THE LOST

US, 2009, 101 minutes, Colour.
Will Ferrell, Anna Friel, Danny Mc Bride, Jorma Taccone, Matt Lauer, Leonard Nimoy.
Directed by Brad Silberling.

Oh dear. Someone remarked that at least is wasn't in 3D. Which occasioned the harsh thought that Land of the Lost had zero dimensions.

Perhaps those who watched the 43 episodes on television in the 1970s will feel nostalgic about the series and the film and may enjoy how the producers have interpreted the show three decades later. On the other hand, they may well not feel this way when they see it.

The original had an eccentric professor father and his two children who find themselves in an alternate world with dinosaurs and a strange and menacing race, the Sleestaks. Now Will Ferrell is the professor who lacks scientific credibility with his theories of time warps. Ferrell, as might be expected from his films and his career with Saturday Night Live, plays his role for slapstick humour, laughs and spoofs (sometimes geared for tolerant adults rather than children). The former children from the series are now adults who have never met before (though Danny Mc Bride as slacker Will is in the Saturday Night Live vein as well and calling him adult is a bit of a stretch). Holly becomes Anna Friel as a Cambridge educated scientist who believes absolutely in the professor. The Sleestaks look odd, to say the least, as does the monkey alien, Chaka (Jorma Taccone, also an SNL writer).

The adventures in the strange world are rather corny as well with more than amateurish look. The benefit of the doubt would be that the makers wanted to pay homage to the look of the old series with its technological limitations. But, there is a lot of doubt and my guess would be that it would all be too stupid (rather than affectionately clever) for adults. Even younger audiences would have to exercise some tolerance.

The professor's machine is a tacheon – tacky on most accounts!

And the thought came: inanity of inanities, all is inanity.

1.The impact of this film? In itself? As an updated version of the television series? Comparisons?

2.The critical mauling? Did it deserve it? Why?

3.Contemporary US? Schools, television stations…? The open spaces of the desert? The tourist resort? The effects for the travel in the cave? The contrast with the Land of the Lost, desert, mountains, the buried motel? The temples for the Sleestaks? The creatures? The stunt work? Dinosaurs? Pterodactyls?

4.The introduction to Rick Marshall? The Will Ferrell type, Saturday Night Live? Faces, offhand remarks, jokes? On television, the interview with Matt Lauer, being ridiculed, walking out? His teaching the children in the school – and his elaborate explanations of time warps? The kids’ questions? The meeting with Holly, her admiration for him? Her imprint of the cigarette lighter? Going to the tar pits, the kids? The scientists?

5.The decision to travel into the desert? The meeting with Will and his centre? The slacker? The tour, in the boat, the frights, gadgets not working? The earthquake, the waterfall, the transfer into the Land of the Lost?

6.The visuals of the Land of the Lost? How impressive? The encounter with Cha-Ka? Appearance, language, Holly understanding it? His joining the expedition?

7.Rick, his leadership, the climbing of the mountain and his being left behind? The dinosaurs, the pterodactyls, the creatures? The harassment? The dangers? The pool? The finding of the pterodactyl eggs?

8.The theme from A Chorus Line? The jokes about music shows? Rick and his dancing to the rhythm, crossing the lake with the eggs? The machine going off? His scurrying back, everybody singing?

9.The capture of Holly, her being held? Arriving at the pantheon, the hollows, the red lights and the voices? The condemnation? The arrival of the Sleestaks, their appearance, voices, slow moving?

10.The Zahn, his plans for conquering the world? The crystals? Around Holly’s neck? On the planet? His being in the laboratory, the confrontation?

11.Rick, the dinosaur, being swallowed? Appearing again? The corny jokes?

12.The final confrontation? The heroism, the rescue of Holly? Will and his decision to stay with Cha-Ka? The girls?

13.The return to Earth, the new book, Matt Lauer and the television interviews?

14.The corniness of the film? The tone of the jokes – poor for adults? Children missing them or finding them silly? For whom was the film intended?