Land of the Lost

(2009)

Directed by

Brad Silberling

Review by Terry Plucknett

No one does stupid, ironic humor quite like Will Ferrell.  From Anchorman to Talladega Nights, Will Ferrell has put together a career banking on making fun of himself at all costs.  Land of the Lost is yet another film on this line.  A perfect way to explain the movie is, “What would happen if Ron Burgundy or Ricky Bobby were being chased by a dinosaur in a strange land?”  If this sounds like a hilarious situation, then you would enjoy this movie.

The film centers on Dr. Rick Marshall (Ferrell), a scientist that has been laughed into obscurity after he was embarrassed on the Today Show by Matt Lauer, who is surprisingly funny in his cameo, for promoting his research of time warp and parallel universes.  He accepts his life of shame and rejection until he is encouraged to continue his studies by young scientist Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel).  All the research is quickly proven true when Marshall and Cantrell, along with average-Joe Will Stanton (Danny McBride), are teleported to another land of dinosaurs and other bizarre creatures.  Marshall, being the know-it-all scientist he is, acts as if he can predict every creatures movements in this unknown world.  You quickly realize he doesn’t when he is outsmarted by a T-Rex.  The three of them, along with a monkey-type creature named Cha-Ka (Jorma Taccone), journey through the unknown land to find their device that will get them home.  In their journeys, hilarity ensues.

Will Ferrell is on top of his comedic game in a way he hasn’t been since Ron Burgundy and Ricky Bobby.  A breath of fresh air was breathed into this character that was missing in films like Semi-Pro.  Anna Friel is solid as the counterpart and inevitable love interest.  The one that tends to steal the show though, is Danny McBride, who is quickly putting together a solid career as a quirky side-kick in these types of films.

What makes this film interesting is that the comedy is the same as you would find in most Will Ferrell movies, but this film has a budget behind it.  For the first time, we see Will Ferrell interact with CGI creatures.  However, it is not simply dropping Will Ferrell and his quirkiness into a stereotypical big budget action film.  The world that is created equals, and in some ways surpasses, Ferrell’s bizarre quirkiness.  There are giant crabs, hallucinogenic trees, dinosaurs attacking an ice-cream stand, and random show tunes that play through their time travel device.  So instead of Will Ferrell being one of his bizarre characters in a normal world, this time he is one of his bizarre characters is an equally bizarre world.  It is definitely not a film for everyone, but if you are a Will Ferrell fan, like I am, you will be quoting lines from this film like you did, “Shake and bake!” and “You stay classy, San Diego.”

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