Land of the Lost

Not having been a fan of anything Land of the Lost before, this movie didn’t do much for me.  The Will Ferrell era of comedy ended a few years ago in my book, and, though he is hilarious, Danny McBride plays the exact same character in every movie he is in.  Ferrell and McBride play tag-team stock characters (which happen to be themselves, mostly), and the rest is not much better: a few laughs, a ridiculous and predictable storyline, and the whole thing is mostly shambles.

Ferrell plays Dr. Rick Marshall, a quantum-paleontologist, which makes about as much sense as the rest of the movie (that being none at all).  Though it’s funny, it’s really one of the only genuine laughs I had throughout the duration of the movie, thinking of what the heck a “quantum-paleontologist” actually is.  That aside, you need to know that Dr. Marshall is a real prick, that he has one faithful (and attractive) follower, and that McBride plays himself as the against-his-will-tag-along.  They travel “in time and space” to a land filled with dinosaurs, aliens, gas station signs, and other accoutrement that might also work as product-placement.  They discover an alien who says he needs the help of the famous Dr. Rick Marshall.  And therein lies most of the events, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseum.

Other than that, your guess is as good as mine as to what the point of this movie was.  It isn’t funny, has no real moral or theme, and both the writing and the acting are, while not bad per se, are very second-rate, and what you might call, a “monumental waste of time.”  I probably knew most of this before watching it, but I had to know for sure.  And now that I do, just take my word for it, so you don’t sit through it like I did, wondering “if it will get any better if I just wait it out.”  Let me spoil it for you: it doesn’t ever get any better.

Rating: 1.5/4 Stars