Land of the Lost - DVD and Blu-ray Review

By Cyril Pearl -- Video Business, 10/5/2009

UNIVERSAL
Street: Oct. 13
Prebook: now
> Mediocre movie version of the cheesy Saturday morning kids series from the ’70s.

Produced at the cost of an estimated $100 million, Land of the Lost is the latest in a stream of bloated, goofy summer movies inspired by Saturday morning TV shows from the ’70s. (Josie and the Pussycats and Scooby-Doo, anyone?) Will Ferrell stars as a crackpot paleontologist who, along with a loudmouth sidekick (Danny McBride) and a British scientist babe (Anna Friel), slides down a waterfall and into a strange land populated by dinosaurs, lizard men, a cuddly little hairy humanoid named Cha-Ka (Jorma Taccone) and lots of silly jokes. The cheesy spirit of the original TV show is kept alive, but the film is so unspecial and mediocre-looking, considering its price tag. And that’s even counting a bunch of good-enough yucks and a fun cameo by The Today Show’s Matt Lauer.

Shelf Talk: One of the summer’s major box-office disappointments, Land of the Lost will undoubtedly do better on the home entertainment front, but it’s not going to set any records as its lack of critical and commercial love won’t be receiving much help in terms of word-of-mouth. It helps that it’s being release early in the fourth quarter, right before the season’s big guns knock it off the charts.

Adventure, color, PG-13 (language, sexual situations, drug reference), 102 min., DVD $29.98, UPC: 025195038935; BD $39.98, UPC: 025195051248
Extras: commentary, deleted scenes, Danny McBride featurette, Devil’s Canyon Gift Shop Commercial and Tour; BD adds more deleted scenes with commentary, additional featurette, conversation with Sid and Marty Kroftt, BD Live elements
Director: Brad Silberling
First Run: W, June 2009, $49 mil.