A space-time vortex sucks scientist Rick Marshall, his assistant Holly and a survivalist Will into a world populated by dinosaurs and painfully slow creatures called Sleestaks.

Director:

Brad Silberling
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1,762 ( 2,202)
2 wins & 9 nominations. See more awards »

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Will Ferrell ... Dr. Rick Marshall
Anna Friel ... Holly Cantrell
Danny McBride ... Will Stanton
Jorma Taccone ... Chaka
John Boylan John Boylan ... Enik
Matt Lauer ... Matt Lauer
Bobb'e J. Thompson ... Tar Pits Kid
Sierra McCormick ... Tar Pits Kid
Shannon Lemke Shannon Lemke ... Tar Pits Kid
Steven Wash Jr. ... Tar Pits Kid
Brian Huskey ... Teacher
Kevin Buitrago Kevin Buitrago ... Teenager
Noah Crawford ... Teenager
Jon Kent Ethridge Jon Kent Ethridge ... Teenager (as Jon Kent Ethridge II)
Logan Manus ... Teenager
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Storyline

Palaeontologist Rick Marshall takes Will and Holly into a new world of danger, dinosaurs and big bug-eyed lizard people while trying to find their way back home and, too, save the universe and in doing so saving his reputation. With the dinosaur with brains, brawn and personality and the adventure of scientific advancement and exotic beasts in a far away land, it all adds up to time traveling fun and frolics. Written by Cinema_Fan

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Experience a New Dimension in Adventure See more »


Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Ronald Meyer, President of Universal Studios, had given a speech at the 2011 Savannah Film Festival where he publicly disparaged the film. Meyer said "Land of the Lost (2009) was just crap. I mean, there was no excuse for it. The best intentions all went wrong." See more »

Goofs

Dr. Marshall is first bitten by the mosquito on the neck, then on his back. When he gets up in the morning, there is a huge mosquito bite on his back, but nothing on his neck. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Astronaut: Mission Control, come in. Mission Control, do you read?
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Crazy Credits

Halfway through the credits there is an additional scene showing a brought back dinosaur egg hatching to reveal a baby Sleestak. See more »

Alternate Versions

Universal Studios released a Family Friendly version on DVD that removes objectionable content. This version has a blue border on the DVD cover. See more »


Soundtracks

Die Kleine Stadt Will Schlafen Geh'n
Written by Werner Bochmann, Martha Bergner
Performed by Ilse Werner
Courtesy of M.A.T. Music Theme Licensing Ltd.
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User Reviews

 
Entertainment gets lost
3 June 2009 | by C-YounkinSee all my reviews

"Land of the Lost" is another in a long line of old TV shows lazily packaged into summer movies, too dumbed-down for fans of the original show and nothing all that memorable for those younger viewers coming into it for the first time. There is no doubt it will join the class ("Bewitched"-which Will Ferrell also was in, "Dukes of Hazard" and "Wild Wild West") of films so bad that they make "The Brady Bunch Movie" look like the "Ben-Hur" of the genre. There is just zero reason to care about anything in this movie. Will Ferrell, you should have known better.

Ferrell plays Dr. Rick Marshall, a paleontologist disgraced by what others call his nonsensical theories about space-time vortexes. The only one who cares to believe him is Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel), a research assistant from one of those fancy British universities who encourages him to keep working on his tachyon thingie-majigger, a device that finds tachyon particles that somehow allow people to jump between worlds. They find the most amount of the stuff in a crappy little souvenir shop run by a redneck named Will (Danny McBride), and before they know it Marshall, Holly, and Will are traveling back to another dimension that's all desert. The place is complete with T-Rex, creepy-crawly bugs, a bunch of things from our world littered about like a stretch limo, Bobs Big Boy and Golden Gate Bridge, and a primate named Chaka (Jorma Taccone) who befriends them and helps them navigate their way back to their dimension.

What needs to get lost is the screenplay by Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas. When Matt Lauer, playing himself, is the funniest thing in a movie, you know that something went horribly wrong. The laughs are childishly inane. Ferrell is forced to embarrass himself considerably, in one scene drenching himself in, and yes, even drinking dinosaur urine. Dino poop and gross insect infections also get high regard. Then you have Chaka, a supposedly lovable primate who's big comic bit is molestation. Hilarious! And this is the big-laugh stuff. The rest is hard to even remember. That this movie manages any chuckles at all is due to Ferrell and McBride's improvisation abilities. Ferrell is the arrogant goof-off and McBride the brash sidekick, but they're facing an uphill battle with this screenplay.

And the plot…wait, what plot? And what character development for that matter? It's all very basic, aimless, and easy to follow, except you'll be too bored to do so. Characters run around like idiots, dinosaurs and insects chase after them, not much happens. And when not being chased, the aimlessness doesn't stop, it just gets more persistent. A scene where Marshall, Will, and Chaka sit around in a stupor getting high off of some coconut drink (yes, this is a family movie) is unbelievably drawn out, unnecessary, and above all, pointless. Finally in the third act the Slestaks, reptilian villains bent on world domination, start to put their plan into effect but even then it's too little, too late to care. The special effects are cheesy. I'm assuming that was the plan cause the show was the exact same way but what you can see at home for free and what your willing to pay for are two different things. A dinosaur against an obvious green screen isn't much fun and little green reptilian men in obvious costumes and masks that barely move, other than to open and close their mouths, are hard to take seriously.

"Land of the Lost" is just lost, misguided in every way, starting with even deciding to make the movie in the first place. It deserves to be shunned and left to be the summer's first big box-office bomb. Ferrell, McBride, and Matt Lauer are the only things that keep it from being horribly unwatchable but not from being one of the very worst of the summer and the year thus far.


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Frequently Asked Questions

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 June 2009 (New Zealand) See more »

Also Known As:

La tierra perdida See more »

Filming Locations:

California, USA See more »

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Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,837,350, 7 June 2009

Gross USA:

$49,438,370

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$68,777,554
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Company Credits

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Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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