Alrighty then, let's get cracking with the new Will Ferrell movie, Land Of The Lost. Now, for anyone who does follow the blog, they'll know that me and Will Ferrell have a bit of a love-hate relationship. Now, to clear this from the record, I DO NOT dislike Will Ferrell as a comic actor. The man is quite clearly talented and can be very enjoyable to watch, but he does intermittently make mistakes as an actor. Its kind of like Quentin Tarantino, although more so, in that whilst intelligence does shimmer, every now and again he goes mad. Here, in Land Of The Lost, Ferrell plays Rick Marshall, a paleontologist who is ostracised by the scientific community because of his radical theories, only to find out through an admirer Holly, played by Anna Friel, followed by Will, played by Danny McBride, that they are true, and they enter a Land Of The Lost, and we follow their attempts to get back home. Now in truth, there were a few good things about Land Of The Lost. For starters, Ferrell is playing a character which is not ridiculously over-the-top, and seems more like a real human being. That however is not to take away from the larger-than-life portrayal of Ron Burgendy in Anchorman, it's just he does over-the-top too often, and it is for a time at least refreshing to see Ferrell in a role that is not over-the-top but more psychologically insecure and egotistical. Also, some of the gags are funny, although I will say they are few and far between. Finally, the world that is created in Land Of The Lost is done very well. Suiting the type of film that it is meant to be, the world is absolute hyper-reality, with the graphics of the dinosaurs made to look obvious and the world made to look slightly hokey, in order to give the film a sort of look reminiscent of The Mighty Boosh, although through the use of graphics rather than actual props. However, it all looks very well, giving it a distinctly original art direction. The music by Michael Giachinno soots the atmosphere of the world very well, harking back to vintage television scores, as seen in the original series and projected by the films tachyon amplifier which takes them to the Land Of The Lost, at least giving the film some vestiges of originality. However, this is all that is good about the film, for Land Of The Lost is a really lacking film. Anna Friel just serves as your obligatory window dressing, and Danny McBride's role is a waste of time, serving as the films stereotypical idiot alongside the primate companion of the group. Also, the film is stuctured in a manner so that everything they do in the film is purely expositional, as opposed to actually balancing between that and advancing the characters throughout the film: its all there for the typical point A to point A. Dialogue too really suffers in this department, mixing between being purely expositional and downright stupid gags. Now as I said, there are a few gags to be found, but few and far between is the correct phrase, and in truth, the gags are the lowest and most unintelligent, unoriginal scat humour, sexual innuendo and drug references. Another problem with this type of humour in this film is that the film is quite clearly aimed at a younger audience than is typical of a Will Ferrell comedy. As such, the humour becomes like a castrated, PG-13 version of everything, so that adults can get the humour and the children will think its funny because people are acting stupid, the sequence with the men and primate drinking "narcotics" from a coconut tree being the best example. Other times, its just Will Ferrell literally pouring dinosaur piss on his head: it's that type of film. Not only that, Ferrell's character is more reminiscent of one of his sketch show creations, and so by about half-way through the film he is more annoying than funny. Also, director Brad Siberling just seems to be going with proceedings, just being there to supervise the chaos, and as a result, just seems to be doing a lazy job instead. Now I'm not saying that people can't have fun on a film set, but there has to be at least some sort of effort being put in to making a good film. They spent $100 million making this film. I will not tell people how to make movies, do it whatever way you will, but I am getting more and more disgusted every time I see considerable amounts of money spent on a movie which is so unneccessarily expensive. Hopefully the film's $64 million gross will have served as a kick up the ass for them, because I getting sick and tired of the lack of morality at spending so much money and having nothing positive to show for it. Land Of The Lazy is a very lazy, effortless film which is also very, very boring and is in my opinion the worst film starring Will Ferrell. Please don't do it again Will. I know we have criticised you for overacting, but don't address it by underacting to the point where we don't care that you are in the film. We'll even let you take your top off like you always do.
The Thin White Dude's Prognosis - 3.9/10
The Thin White Dude's Self-Diagnosis - Incredibly bored
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