Spring Break
Land of the Lost Gets Lost in Itself
By: Logan West
Issue date: 6/9/09 Section: Features
I do not know if Will Ferrell grew up wanting to be part of some of his favorite TV shows as a kid, but when he takes films from the small screen to feature films including Bewitched and the recent Land of the Lost, he fails. It could be the fault of writers, but since it has been reported that many scenes are ad-libbed in his movies, I am placing some blame on Ferrell for Land of the Lost. It doesn't help Ferrell that he plays an unlikable and even detestable protagonist who is arrogant, crude and self-absorbed, which is the only character he's been playing since he left Saturday Night Live - other than in Stranger Than Fiction.
Ferrell's character, Dr. Rick Marshall, is ultimately after the truth and achieves his goal of moving around time and space and accidentally ending up in the "Land of the Lost." Marshall is helped by an admirer, Holly Cantrell, played by Anna Friel, who gives the best performance in the film. Unfortunately, from here on out, the performances of Anna Friel and Danny McBride, as Will Stanton, carry the film.
Danny McBride plays a small-time fireworks and gift shop owner in the desert who steals the show, with some of the best lines in the film. Although McBride continues to play the same type of character as in his other movies and his show Eastbound and Down, the viewer feels that he is a man with dreams and will want him to succeed in attaining them. I wish I could say the same for Ferrell's character because after the first scenes of the film, I could not have cared less about Dr. Rick Marshall.
Once in the Land of the Lost, they save a creature named Cha-Ka who unexplainably can be understood and translated by Holly. After this, Cha-Ka becomes more of a prop than a character with the ability to be whatever is needed for the scene including a guide and even a singer. Once the rag-tag group of people and semi-chimp come together, they go through some ups and downs in order to find the machine that will help them save an exiled Sleestak, a reptilian creature in the Land of the Lost, and get them home.
Ferrell's character, Dr. Rick Marshall, is ultimately after the truth and achieves his goal of moving around time and space and accidentally ending up in the "Land of the Lost." Marshall is helped by an admirer, Holly Cantrell, played by Anna Friel, who gives the best performance in the film. Unfortunately, from here on out, the performances of Anna Friel and Danny McBride, as Will Stanton, carry the film.
Danny McBride plays a small-time fireworks and gift shop owner in the desert who steals the show, with some of the best lines in the film. Although McBride continues to play the same type of character as in his other movies and his show Eastbound and Down, the viewer feels that he is a man with dreams and will want him to succeed in attaining them. I wish I could say the same for Ferrell's character because after the first scenes of the film, I could not have cared less about Dr. Rick Marshall.
Once in the Land of the Lost, they save a creature named Cha-Ka who unexplainably can be understood and translated by Holly. After this, Cha-Ka becomes more of a prop than a character with the ability to be whatever is needed for the scene including a guide and even a singer. Once the rag-tag group of people and semi-chimp come together, they go through some ups and downs in order to find the machine that will help them save an exiled Sleestak, a reptilian creature in the Land of the Lost, and get them home.
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