Land of the Lost 2009

Ben Mankiewicz, At the Movies: Danny McBride is funny in the movie, not nearly often enough. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The movie is 90 minutes of bickering and blase under-reaction to outrageous events, interrupted by gross-out scraps such as Ferrell's run-in with an enormous mosquito, which ends with a tremendous amount of blood and guts. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: The interesting thing, though, when you actually see "Land of the Lost," is that it ... essentially functions as a high-cost, high-gloss parody of itself. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: The only marginally interesting, if unsurprising, thing about Land of the Lost is that a lot of money has been spent on yet another cultural throwaway. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: This dramatically, thematically and artistically bankrupt comic fantasy cost something in the neighborhood of $100 million to make and isn't worth the celluloid it's printed on. Read more

Scott Von Doviak, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: A soulless special effects flick crossed with a tired gross-out comedy. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: It's hard to say what audience Silberling had in mind. For the kids, there's a steady parade of dinosaurs, time-travel adventures and absent-minded- professor jokes. But there are no kids to identify with. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Director Brad Silberling can't seem to decide whether he's making fun of the show's cheesy visuals or seizing on its sense of roughhewn adventure. Read more

Keith Phipps, AV Club: It doesn't help that neither Ferrell nor McBride bring their best material, with McBride offering yet another variation on an angry redneck, and Ferrell falling back on Ron Burgundy-like bluster and nonsense exclamations. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Many of the bits are far too adult for children, yet no adult with a brain bigger than a walnut -- inside joke the filmmakers evidently thought was hilarious -- would find the story the least bit compelling. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Genially terrible, Lost is lazy, sloppy multiplex filler, good for a few solid giggles and not much more. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: [A] gigantic chunk of scat. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: It all amounts to a certain brand of comedy -- something closer to long-form Dada than conventional humor. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: With his belligerent blankness and gawky aplomb, Ferrell has made me laugh as much as any comic of his generation, but he's not doing anything fresh in Land of the Lost. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: What next: The Banana Splits movie? Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: When it comes to movies, there's good stupid and there's just plain stupid. Land of the Lost is just plain stupid, and that's not good. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Land of the Lost has stray amusing 
tidbits, but overall it leaves you feeling splattered. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: Ferrell plays Dr. Rick Marshall, Quantum Paleologist. Well, kinda. He's really just Will Ferrell, Guy Who Wears Speedos No Matter What Movie He's In. Read more

Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: A pleasantly undistinguished pudding. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Land of the Lost becomes an endurance test -- one that's too borderline bawdy for families and too dull and rote for anyone over 15. Who, exactly, is the intended audience for this drivel? Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Not a children's movie, but a movie for people with childlike minds, Land of the Lost" combines the kind of juvenile humor that might amuse a 14-year-old with a shoddy plot that wouldn't satisfy a 5-year-old. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: This Land exists at the bottom of the pop-cultural barrel. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Pity the unwitting parents who take their kids to see Land of the Lost, Will Ferrell's terminally stupid, sloppy, campy and cheesy -- and thoroughly unexciting and unfunny -- experiment in 'family entertainment.' Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Stupid on an epic scale or epic on a stupid one, Land of the Lost is as close as Will Ferrell comes these days to a 'kid friendly' movie. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Not exactly a hundred million dollars' worth of classic comedy. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Dull, unfunny, and completely unsuitable for viewing by anyone who isn't a charter member of the Will Farrell fan club. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Confronted with such effects, the actors make not the slightest effort to appear terrified, amazed or sometimes even mildly concerned. Some might consider that a weakness. I suspect it is more of a deliberate choice, and I say I enjoyed it. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Will Ferrell and Danny McBride can find the dumb fun in anything. Too bad that Land of the Lost is so much less than anything. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Land of the Lost is harmless enough. It just isn't, with the exception of a few odd air pockets, particularly funny. Read more

Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle: Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Land of the Lost is an enjoyable regression to Saturday mornings gone by, as junky and sweet as a strawberry Pop-Tart. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: This isn't the Land of the Lost you remember from childhood, but get on its antisocial wavelength and it's fitfully laugh-out-loud funny. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Audiences of a certain sort will be dumbstruck by how high the silliness gets piled; but whether or not you're puffin' stuff, you'll likely get lost in laughter. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: The only discernible intention in Land of the Lost, the latest comedy starring Will Ferrell acting like Will Ferrell, seems to have been to take a slight idea and make the least of it in a very expensive way. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: [The screenwriters] haven't given Ferrell a single witty line, which may explain why he seems to be so grimly going through the motions. The jokes aren't just worn out, they're clubbed to death. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, Time Out: Read more

Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out: Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: A ragbag of lackadaisical plotting, drugs references, puerile lechery and shiny effects work, an assemblage far from child-friendly yet not quite grungey enough to wow older teens. Read more

Brian Lowry, Variety: Modernizing a 1970s children's TV show known for its cheap special effects offered certain possibilities, but the filmmakers have traded in any kid-friendly elements for bathroom humor of dinosaur-sized proportions. Read more

Hank Stuever, Washington Post: Land of the Lost is not completely terrible, and it moves briskly and safely, even though its more laugh-worthy bits have already been seen in endless commercials for the movie. Read more