I have memories of the 70s TV show that come in hints and glimpses. I remember the terrible stop-motion dinosaurs and slow-moving Sleestaks. I can picture father Marshall and son Will with matching white guy afros. And I recall that a Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray played monkey-boy Chaka.
These memories were fond enough, but nothing particularly stirred in me when I heard they were doing a big screen adaptation. However, my ears perked and eyebrow raised when I heard that Will Ferrell and Danny McBride would be the ones boarding the raft for the routine expedition.
Their presence turned my reaction from, “Um… OK?” to “Yes, please. Can I see it now.” I’ve been a disciple of Ferrell since he was crooning as Robert Goulet on SNL. My bromance with McBride began when I stumbled upon The Foot Fist Way, his indie tale of a strip mall Tae Kwon Do instructor, and the fans were flamed with last year’s Pineapple Express and HBO’s East Bound and Down.
Both Ferrell and McBride shared the same quality: no matter what they say, I laugh. It’s their voice and delivery and complete commitment to their own absurdity that always hits true against my funny bone.
The situation that Dr. Rick Marshall (Ferrell) leads to the Land of the Lost has been updated from the original material. They aren’t a family of explorers. This time Holly (Anna Friel) is a budding scientist out to help prove Marshall’s outrageous theories of Time Warps. Joining them is Will (McBride), a greasy, sideshow operator that gets reluctantly sucked into the vortex alongside them.
Like the show, the trio, along with Chaka, has to figure out how to get home while avoiding a grumpy T-Rex, Sleestaks, and the other perils of the Land of the Lost.
Hats off to director Brad Silberling for updating the look of the Sleestaks just enough to fit them in a movie made in 2009, but keeping them awkward, slow, and rubbery enough to strum those strings of nostalgia.
When Ferrell and McBride dive into this world, their commitment to the ridiculousness tugs you along for the ride. It’s stupid and silly and fun. While not reaching the heights of similarly absurd, Anchorman or Pineapple, it certainly exceeds Ferrell’s most recent efforts, Step Brothers and Semi-Pro.
You do get a hint that they were holding back. This was obviously made with kids in mind, but they did leave the door open a crack to let in a few wafts of what we come to expect from their more adult comedies. When Ferrell quietly pokes, “F*ck you, Chaka,” I crossed my fingers and hoped for an unrated DVD.
Land of the Lost is a good time and a nice breather from smash and grab, action fare that has filled the theater and will continue in the coming weeks. I can’t say it’s a side-wrenchingly funny as The Hangover, but you leave the theater with a smile, satisfied.
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