I'm going to write a review once my thoughts have had more time to sink in, but I thought it was undeserving of the critical drubbing it received this weekend. The third act is unfocused but I thought it was pretty funny the whole way through.

From Deadline Hollywood Daily:

I love it when movies like this flop, but unfortunately time has taught me that doesn't mean Hollywood learns it's lesson and stop making bad movies. They will repeat this error again, unfortunately.

I don't know if I should be embarassed about this or not, but:

I actually LIKED this movie.

I guess the biggest surprise for me is that they didn't try to make a kiddie flick...this is defintitely geared toward the grown ups, and has enough "in jokes" to please fans of the series. Oh, I suppose there's enough monsters and dinosaurs in this one to keep the attention of children, but it's really all about poking fun at the Saturday morning show. That's either going to tick you off or amuse the heck out of you, and for me it was the latter.

No, it's by no means the best movie of the summer, and yes, many of the attempts at humor fall flat on their face...but there's more than enough here to give it a recommendation. It's certainly much funnier than the new "Night at the Museum" and certainly much more entertaining than "Terminator: Salvation" and "Angels and Demons".

So count me as one of the few who would actually recommend seeing it.

I'd categorize it as a popcorn family movie. Nothing truly bad, but nothing that stands out either. The movie was.. amusing and I'd recommend it as a rental.

I get that is what they are doing, which is why I hate it. We get it...shows back then didn't have the budget/great special effects to look great. But the writing was done by top talent, and it was a decent premise. Actually, a great premise for a SatAm show.

I don't know where it started exactly...I guess I first noticed it with Brady Bunch...this need to make movies based off of old TV shows that only really serve to poke fun at the old TV shows. And Brady Bunch got two movies out of that concept. But continuing to make movies that poke fun at old shows just because they had a campness to them that couldn't be avoided is really getting OLD.

Land of the Lost deserved to be treated better. Story wise, this wasn't just one of the better Kroft shows, it was one of the better SatAm shows. They could have gone in the direction of something like the new Star Trek movie, which gives some great nods to the original while completely updating it and making it work.

Land of the Lost is a GREAT concept. It deserved a reboot like the new Battlestar Galactica. But if all you want is tall, goofy Will Ferrel and for it to poke fun at the SatAm show and amuse the adults who grew up with it on that level, then I don't hold it against you. It just shows me that perhaps I don't need to waste my time in renting this on DVD.

Ugh - can Hollywood stop with the remakes?

Posted my positive review this morning. Looks like I'm the lone dissenting voice on DVDTalk.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/37503...the-lost-2009/

I don't disagree with you. In fact, this is the SECOND time Sid and Marty have "screwed up" rebooting LAND OF THE LOST (the first time is when they re-did the live action show in 1991 and ignored the best parts of the 70s series). A serious re-launch of LAND OF THE LOST for TV or the theaters is still a great idea, although it's doubtful it will ever happen now.

You made a good point about THE BRADY BUNCH and THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE(s). I guess I enjoyed this version of LAND OF THE LOST about as much as I did the BRADY movies. That is to say, a pale comparison to the original, but still with some entertainment value.

Here's the lesson I learned this weekend, though: LAND OF THE LOST ain't as bad as you heard; and THE HANGOVER ain't as good as you heard - but both are worth checking out. Looking forward to next weekend, when it's time to ask once again what ever happened to the careers of John Travolta and Eddie Murphy.

`Land of the Lost' stars, found

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Marshall, Will and Holly were on a routine expedition when they got sucked into the prehistoric "Land of the Lost." But where are the stars of the 1970s children's TV series now?

Some continued working in entertainment; others got far away from the business. But Spencer Milligan (Marshall), Wesley Eure (Will), Kathleen Coleman (Holly) and Philip Paley, who played the mischievous primate Cha-Ka, have stayed in touch some 35 years later, which seems unusual for a series that lasted only three seasons.



With the "Land of the Lost" movie having opened last weekend, now's a good time for us to catch up with them, too:

---

SPENCER MILLIGAN

The 70-year-old Milligan, who played Will and Holly's dad, Rick Marshall, lives with his wife in a 110-acre farm overlooking the water near Sturgeon Bay, Wis., which they've had for the past 18 years.

"We love it because we have all this privacy," Milligan told The Associated Press in a rare interview. "I get the opportunity to direct local plays - I did a couple of plays a couple of years ago, a revival of Tennessee Williams one-acts. I like directing, it's fun."

After "Land of the Lost," he did episodes of such varied TV series as "The Bionic Woman,""Alice,""Quincy M.E." and "General Hospital." He also taught acting.

When he heard about a movie version of "Land of the Lost," Milligan thought: "Well, isn't that something?"

"It's a little kookier than what we did," he said. "They got dinosaurs that look like dinosaurs!"

Milligan left after the first two seasons over a salary dispute with creators Sid and Marty Krofft. Ron Harper replaced him in the final season as Marshall's brother, Jack.

"We had a difference of opinion, let's put it this way, on using my face for stuff and paying me - lunch boxes, compasses - where they were selling them and I thought it was only fair that everyone should get their fair share."

Still, Milligan said he planned to see the movie over the weekend - but he never watches the show.

"That was then," he said. "I don't watch it, I don't think about it too much. You move on. ...

"I did love working with the kids," he added. "I did enjoy spending time with them. We had a lot of fun."

---

WESLEY EURE

While playing the hunky Will, Eure was simultaneously shooting "Days of Our Lives," where he played the original Mike Horton from 1974-81. He also co-starred with Valerie Bertinelli, Conrad Bain and Red Buttons in the 1979 movie "C.H.O.M.P.S.," about a young man who develops a robot dog, and in the late '80s he hosted the kids' game show "Finders Keepers" on Nickelodeon.

But Eure has had even more success behind the camera, co-developing the animated PBS children's series "Dragon Tales" and authoring several kids' and comedy books. He's also a longtime fundraiser for AIDS and breast cancer charities in Palm Springs, Calif., where he lives.

Eure, 57, recently came out in an interview with the Web site After Elton, which covers gay and bisexual men in entertainment. In it, he discussed the frustration of being a closeted teen idol in the '70s and his yearlong relationship with Richard Chamberlain. He now has a partner of 2 1/2 years.

"It was a horrible time in Hollywood, being gay. It was horrible," Eure told the Web site. "I was on the cover of Tiger Beat and all those a lot, and they'd do those 'Win a Date With Wesley' and 'Who's Wesley Dating?' It was so disingenuous."

As for the "Land of the Lost" movie, Eure shot a cameo which was cut when the ending was changed. But he attended the premiere at Hollywood's Grauman's Chinese Theater, as did Paley.

"I walked down the red carpet and it was surreal," he wrote on his Web site, wesleyeure.com. "To think our little Saturday morning show could generate so much buzz! The cost of the party after the show was probably the entire budget of our first season in 1973."

---

KATHLEEN COLEMAN

Coleman, who went by Kathy in the "Land of the Lost" credits, was famous for her red plaid shirt and blond braided pigtails. But she didn't do much acting after that.

She married young into the prominent Bell family, which settled Bel-Air and other upscale sections of West Los Angeles, and had two sons who are now 28 and 26. While she was only married for five years, she said the family took care of her for 25 years afterward.

Now 47, she lives in the Santa Clarita Valley north of Los Angeles with her longtime boyfriend and is writing a memoir.

While Coleman also shot a cameo that never made it into the movie, she said that, unlike her TV co-stars, she wasn't invited to the premiere. She also said she was made to feel uncomfortable after getting sick on the set. Universal Pictures declined comment.

"I'm mad," Coleman said. "I'm really mad because my family, my friends, my fans are like, 'Why wouldn't you be there?'"

But she remains close with her former castmates, whom she called "a family," and has fond memories of the series.

"It was a lovely time in my childhood," she said. "What kid wouldn't like to be running around the set? We had two sound stages - there were caves, things you can climb on - it was a great time back then."

---

PHILIP PALEY

Paley was only 10 when he was cast as the furry, playful Cha-Ka. Now 45, he's a litigation support project manager at a Los Angeles law firm, helping attorneys gather and preserve evidence during the discovery phase of a trial. Before that, he was a paralegal for 10 years. He's also getting married in July. But he says he misses acting.

"Of course," he said. "It's a lot of fun, I think I'm pretty good at it. I have a problem with the whole pursuit of acting. It's so fraught with rejection, and the pursuit of it is not really for me, but I really enjoy the doing of it."

Attending the premiere and seeing the "Land of the Lost" movie "was very exciting," he said.

"For 35 years, the cast never really received any recognition for the work we did, and so it was pretty cool to finally get a little recognition for our work. We've always known it was a positive show - people love the characters, people were really into it. It imprinted on people some really good things from their childhood.

"The allure of show still is that it's great for kids," he continued. "It's filled with intrigue and it's a little bit scary and there's a lot of innocence in the characters, particularly between Cha-Ka and Holly and how they interact."

Like Coleman, Paley is writing a book about his time on the show. He also has a Facebook page to interact with Cha-Ka fans.

Thanks for posting the article. I think the last thing I read a few years ago was that Spencer Miligan couldn't be located by anyone. Then someone had reported having a beer with him in a bar someplace but he still couldn't be tracked down.

I actually liked this - it was weird and had a slapped together feeling but dinosuars + ferrell + mcbride = good. Lots of great lines and some really hilarious moments...sure there was about 20 minutes that could have been tightened but I had fun with it (the theatre was pretty much silent and heard many parents saying 'this is terrible'). Not for everyone but not as bad as the reviews made it sound and fans of Ferrell & McBride should find something to enjoy...oh yeah and Anna Friel was looking really good too. 3.5/5

This movie sucked. I don't even feel like elaborating.

Just got back from seeing it. Its not great, but its hardly as bad as everyone is saying. I went into this movie ready to accuse it of raping my childhood, etc. (since I do have a soft spot for Land of the Lost). Its literally one of my earliest childhood memories. But the movie was very entertaining. I would have preferred something a little more family-friendly, given the source material. And it did get completely retarded in 2 or 3 spots. But the homages to the old show were everywhere and I was pretty pleased with that. So, overall, I'd give it 3/5 stars.

By the way, I don't know if its been mentioned, but did anyone notice that the Zarn was played by Leonard Nimoy?

I mentioned how awesome it was in my review. Because it is awesome. Just like Leonard Nimoy always is.

droidguy1119, Nice review of Land of the Lost.

Thanks.

No problem. You write nice reviews that I really enjoy getting to read. We happen to agree on a lot of films so it's nice that we even agreed on this under-rated, if imperfect, film. Your recent reviews are pretty spot on for how I felt about Drag Me to Hell (well, on my second viewing which was with a better theater/audience), Star Trek, and Up.

Wow, thanks for the compliment. I'm glad someone is reading them and enjoying them, because I still read major critics' reviews and feel like maybe my knowledge of film really needs improvement or whatever, but I suppose always feeling like I still need to work to be better isn't a bad thing.

I think all the negativity aimed toward this flick salvaged it for me.

I went in expecting the worst and I actually enjoyed it a great deal - found it pretty funny. Yes, it is a spoof on the campiness of the original series, which will by default piss off fans, but it works in its own ways. Additionally, it's amazing that a movie like this got the budget it got while seemingly going on it's own every chance it had. It's immature, trippy, stupid, filthy (seriously was surprised by some of the content) and in many ways a late night future classic. What was the last movie you saw where people got chased down by a giant crab, only for it to fall into a pit of boiling water and pop out fully cooked? Idiotic, yeah, but on some strange level ... it works. The abundance of sex jokes was surprising, but I will admit I did laugh at them, especially the old stand-by "Hey Holly, you should sit on this!" to the vibrating crystal.

The writers had to be smoking something, and I appreciate it all the more because of it. This is the kind of insubstantial movie that works best at home when you don't have anything else going on, if that makes any sense, and is surprisingly rewatchable.

Have you seen Land of the Lost movie? Do you think the movie looks as good as the originals?

"originals" of what? the tv show.

are you kidding, o do you mean is the movie itself as good as the tv show?
still though. huh?