“… still holds up as a really well made low-stakes comedy.”

A long time ago there was a television show called Land of the Lost. I never watched this show, but I knew about it. But even better than that, I both knew about and watched the really weird Will Ferrell-led reboot film that came out in 2009. The film follows the plot of the show down to the shot composition, and truly pays homage to what was once a beloved television program. Or it uses the name and general idea to create another Will Ferrell comedy that, despite the outlandish premise, blends in with everything else he has done. You decide which is true.

I can sit here and shit on Land of the Lost for hours only bringing up legitimate points but I’m not going to do that. You know why? Becasue I enjoy this movie. I enjoyed it when it first came out and I rented it from my local DVD rental store, and I enjoyed it last night when I watched a Blu-ray copy that I just picked up from a not-so-local Blu-ray store. Land of the Lost is fun. That’s the easiest way for me to put it. Sure the plot kind of drags towards the middle, but at the end of the day you have an enjoyable low-stakes comedy that you can sit down and watch with your mom and girlfriend alike. Or by yourself if you’re anything like me. The film introduces a really unique and interesting premise and world that allow for a lot of great comedic moments, and it also managed to capture the feel of the ‘golden age’ of television with the elaborate sets and costumes, along with the painfully obvious soundstage that the actors were walking around. And to be completely honest the CGI wasn’t terrible. For a movie that came out in 2009, things held up pretty well. Sure there are moments when dinosaurs are interacting with people and it looks like shit, but for the most part I was legitimately impressed.

But at its core Land of the Lost is most definitely a Will Ferrell movie. It came out in 2009, arguably the peak of Will Ferrell’s career. When he was a household name. When he was Kevin Hart before Kevin Hart. And Land of the Lost most definitely knew this. Will Ferrell plays the mean character (the ‘heel’, if you will), but he’s still given all of the funniest lines and scenarios. If I didn’t like this movie so much I would knock it for being so wishy-washy with his character type. One scene he’s a dick, the next scene he’s the innocent dumb guy, the next scene he’s doing something sweet but also dumb, the next scene he’s yelling dumb things. Maybe he’s just the dumb guy. Either way Will Ferrell makes this movie amazing, which is good because no one else really brought anything to the table acting-wise.

Overall Land of the Lost still holds up as a really well made low-stakes comedy. Sure it has quite a few issues, but they’re easy to overlook if you just let the movie take you on the really fun ride that it will if you let it. That sentence was a mess, but the movie sure isn’t. Well it kind of is, but it’s a fun mess. Like mud wrestling. Or a pie in the face. Or my parents’ relationship. That last one wasn’t so fun, but at least I had Land of the Lost to help me forget about it for 90 minutes.

I give Land of the Lost a B