Slashing The Seats

Adapting little-known (at least outside the US) psychedelic kids’ shows can never be an easy task and doesn’t seem to be a particularly sharp recipe for box office gold. So Land of the Lost limps quietly on to British screens with little fanfare and while it does have its moments, there’s little to recommend here..

Will Ferrell wheels out his usual man-child schtick as Rick Marshall, a scientist so obsessed with timewarps he’s been ostracized by the rest of the scientific community. But, in a right royal turn up for the books, he’s proved right when he teams up with eye-candy assistant Anna Friel and dumb hustler Danny McBride, last seen in the so-so Foot Fist Way, and the three are transported- by canoe no less- to a strange, prehistoric dimension, full of rampaging dinosaurs and an evil reptilian army bent on conquering the Earth.

Director Brad Silberling (Casper, Lemony Snickett) knows his way around a kid-friendly adventure comedy, so it’s a surprise that much of the humour on show here is aimed squarely at adults. Hidden behind production design that’s lifted directly from the show, Papier Mache rocks n’ all, the two male leads discuss the evil ‘Sleestacks’ methods for ‘tapping that ass’ and there’s a healthy dose of swearing thrown in for good measure.

This could have been great. There are times when you can see the goofiness that powered Anchorman itching to get out, but the confusion over who the hell this is aimed at robs it of any edge. The cute-but-annoying sidekick, the sweet and goofy romance and lacklustre scares are pure kids film territory, but it looks like the Producers were hoping to draw in an older crowd on the basis of irony – the American movie kind, not the real deal – and the old ‘hey man, that show was crazy, they must have been stoned when they made it..’ theory.

The plot is paper thin, the script solid if unexceptional and a lot of the time it seems like we’re relying on Ferrell and McBride to provide laughs by shouting and screwing their faces up. While this might be vaguely enjoyable after an evening of substance abuse, it seems like a wasted opportunity, the odd funny line mixed in among over acting and repetitive scenes. God alone knows where the rumoured $100 million budget went, but it may have been better spent on some joke books.

Not for kids and not for grown ups – the whole thing is well and truly lost. File next to ‘Semi-Pro’ in the waste of Will Ferrell bin.

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