Ferrell’s ‘Land of the Lost’ Proves Not for Kids, But For Us? (***)
The re-tooling of a campy ’70s television hit is commonplace in today’s Hollywood structure — in fact, even the ones that weren’t necessarily hits seem to get a big screen revamp in hopes to cash in on any niche market available. Some are hits (one only has to skower this site in order to find praise for such efforts as 2004’s Starsky and Hutch and last summer’s Get Smart) while others leave you scratching your head (The Mod Squad? Seriously?). When it was announced last year that a Land of the Lost adaption was to undergo production, people everwhere conjured up the image of bored studio heads mindlessley heaving darts at a wall filled with titles of decades-old television shows written on Post-it Notes.
As soon as Will Ferrell was attached, so was the stigma. The dim-witted, wig-wearing, underwear-streaking adult infant was to reprise the same role as always. And in Land of the Lost, he most certainly does. Make no mistake that this is Will Ferrell, doing what Will Ferrell does…
Only this time, the end result is one of perplexity — a sort of “Did that really just happen, or did I miss something?” — only it’s still pretty hilarious.
Ferrel's surreal 'Lost' reboot could leave some confused
Ferrell stars as Dr. Rick Marshall, a scientist known for his bombastic theories on the idea of time travel and parallel universes. Soon his diminished reputation and unsuccessful attempt on NBC News Anchor Matt Lauer’s life force him to work as a teacher at a museum. When he meets Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel), her findings encourage him to build a Tachyon amplifier as a means to travel back in time. He enlists the help of tour guide Will Stanton (the continually of-the-wall Danny McBride) and soon the three are transported to a place where many realities have seemingly converged, losing the device (and their way home) in the process. Soon they encounter dinosaurs, giant bugs and mosquitoes, odd ape-like creatures and of course, the infamous Sleestaks (lizard-like creatures with gigantic pupils). Insanity, of course, ensues.
This short synopsis of the Land of the Lost officially marks the end of any similarities it may share with its source material. Sid and Marty Krofts’ Saturday morning family show is lost in director Brad Silberling’s subversise and ultimately surreal parody. Rather than a remake, or even a reimagining, the film comes off more as a product of Ferrel and McBride’s hallucinigeon-induced musings of the shows more silly aspects.
Now, I’m not suggesting the two of them dropped acid, watched the show, and went to work — I’m simply saying if someone were to do that, this would be the result. The film ultimately succeeds and hurts because of this.
On one end, this is the irreverant and maniacal Ferrell that continues to dominate box office and now even Broadway earnings, and there’s no denying the film is funny. But the large question lies in the tone — is this an homage, or a sardonic lampooning? I suppose to main point is to laugh — and laugh I did. But I questioned why. Often. In a recent chat with Rolling Stone magazine, Anchorman director and frequent collaborator Adam McKay said of Ferrell: “When you look at some of the characters [he] creates…it’s bizarre that he’s a huge movie star.”
And how.
Ferrell and McBride turn LoTL into their own world
So often he treads the line between what is legitimately humurous and what it is almost a borderline mockery of his audience. Giving us merely his wry grin and the notion that he’s truly messed with the collective head of movie-goers, he’s begun to usher in an era of what /film’s Hunter Stephenson brilliantly calls the Stop Making Sense comedy movement. Think about it — did Ricky Bobby really need to strip to his skivvies and pray to Oprah? Did Brennan Huff have to rest his genitals on Dale’s drumset? The answer to both questions is a vehement “no”. But we laughed (a lot) anyway. This surreal landscape Ferrell has slowly built has reached its pinnacle in the Land of the Lost – a movie in which he douses himself in urine and waxes philosophical on the intricities of alien copulation.
Somehow, this stuff is still making me laugh…
