Think we all knew it after either hearing about it OR seeing the trailer. This looks pretty dismal, and all the early reviews are unanimous in their condemnation of the movie.
I've even liked some of Will Ferrell's comedies a great deal (BLADES OF GLORY, ANCHORMAN, TALLDEGA NIGHTS) but this one looks like a misconceived mess on every level. Sounds like it, too...but what else did you expect from the director of CASPER?!?! lol.
"Granted, this is hardly the first adaptation of a classic TV show to go awry, but it’s among the most misguided. In hindsight, the movie looks like a secondary consideration to the marketing possibilities, such as the “Today” tie-in and Ferrell’s appearance on the Discovery Channel adventure program “Man vs. Wild.”
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117940 ... id=31&cs=1
LAND OF THE LOST - Bombing Friday at Theaters Everywhere!
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AndyDursin
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LAND OF THE LOST - Bombing Friday at Theaters Everywhere!
Last edited by AndyDursin on Wed Jun 03, 2009 9:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Monterey Jack
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Re: LAND OF THE LOST - Bombing Friday at Theaters Everywhere
To be fair, I liked Brad Silberling's Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events a lot more than I thought I would. As far as "Imitation Burton" goes, it was a well-produced dark family film I enjoyed a great deal.AndyDursin wrote:...but this one looks like a misconceived mess on every level. Sounds like it, too...but what else did you expect from the director of CASPER?!?! lol.
That said, Land Of The Lost is going to be the latest high-tech "reimaging" of some kitschy piece of 60's/70's television crap that will be totally forgotten by the end of the summer (remember that wretched Lost In Space movie that was supposed to kick off a lucrative big screen franchise?
). But I hate Will Ferrell is everything (Stranger Than Fiction excepted), so I'm obviously not in this film's particular demographic. Who's bright idea was it to open this two weeks after A Night At The Museum 2 and a week after Up? The family audience will still be seeing those films, and the only people seeing LOTL will be aging baby boomers looking for a dash of nostalgia...kind of like Family Guy fans. 
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AndyDursin
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I didn't much care for LEMONY SNICKET beyond its look -- it had top-notch production values across the board (and half of Burton's art directors along for the ride), but I found the film soulless and redundant.
As far as the core audience of this movie goes, I don't think there's really any level of nostalgia for LAND OF THE LOST that would actually drive adults my age and up to see it. I mean, I grew up watching the reruns, and some of the shows were fairly thoughtful and well-written despite the '70s cheapjack production values. But this movie doesn't resemble the show at all outside of its basic premise and a few token references it seems. Nobody who liked the old show would have any interest in seeing it for that reason -- if there were even that many fans who WANTED to see a LAND OF THE LOST movie in the first place!
From what it looks like they are aiming this right at 12-year olds with bathroom humor jokes. A smarter move would've just been to make a straight family movie with the material -- you see how well Brendan Fraser's JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH did...all they had to do was basically do that kind of film and it would have found an audience you'd figure with younger audiences.
As I said, I've liked some of Ferrell's comedies (BLADES OF GLORY was inspired, one of the funniest films I've seen in years), but this one just felt wrong right from the start. When he's not working with his usual collaborators like either Apatow or Adam McKay, it's usually not a good sign, and this project just felt misguided from the get-go.
As far as the core audience of this movie goes, I don't think there's really any level of nostalgia for LAND OF THE LOST that would actually drive adults my age and up to see it. I mean, I grew up watching the reruns, and some of the shows were fairly thoughtful and well-written despite the '70s cheapjack production values. But this movie doesn't resemble the show at all outside of its basic premise and a few token references it seems. Nobody who liked the old show would have any interest in seeing it for that reason -- if there were even that many fans who WANTED to see a LAND OF THE LOST movie in the first place!
From what it looks like they are aiming this right at 12-year olds with bathroom humor jokes. A smarter move would've just been to make a straight family movie with the material -- you see how well Brendan Fraser's JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH did...all they had to do was basically do that kind of film and it would have found an audience you'd figure with younger audiences.
As I said, I've liked some of Ferrell's comedies (BLADES OF GLORY was inspired, one of the funniest films I've seen in years), but this one just felt wrong right from the start. When he's not working with his usual collaborators like either Apatow or Adam McKay, it's usually not a good sign, and this project just felt misguided from the get-go.
"Soulless and redundant"--PERFECT description of that. I saw it with two female friends who love that whole "goth-child" aesthetic, and I simply couldn't connect with this on any level. I'm a big Thomas Newman fan and found the music lacking in any of the qualities I like in his scores.AndyDursin wrote:I didn't much care for LEMONY SNICKET beyond its look -- it had top-notch production values across the board (and half of Burton's art directors along for the ride), but I found the film soulless and redundant.
I saw the Land of the Lost trailer and was wondering who the heck this was supposed to appeal to--it had these wisecracks where the jokes were supposed to be, and I think we're all kinda worn out on the dinosaur thing. Maybe stupid kids, as opposed to the ones who find Pixar films to their liking.
John