*** Official LAND OF THE LOST Discussion Thread - Page 2

Re: *** Official LAND OF THE LOST Discussion Thread

[I moved this post from the review thread, since it's turning into a discussion between myself and Tony J Case. See that thread for his post. Here's my response.]

Tony, what about Will Ferrell + LOTL made you expect all that? There wasn't a single trailer that failed to make clear this was a Will Ferrell comedy. I can understand if you don't like Will. But expecting a faithful remake? I don't see how anyone could have expected that. The movie was EXACTLY what I was expecting. Perhaps you missed all the marketing for this movie, and went in on the name alone. But Will's name should have been a clue that this wasn't a faithful (or even respectful) remake of the original. If you can provide some evidence that the marketing for this movie tricked you into thinking it would be intelligent or respectful to the original, then you might have a case to be so annoyed and disappointed. But they were pretty up front about it. The clips Will brought to the talk shows made this even more clear.

I thought the urine dump was a funny parody of the Jurassic Park III dinosaur escape strategy, and thus it was poking fun of the unrealistic idea that a small boy could survive alone on a dinosaur island for weeks. Considering this second level of humor, I thought it was anything but a stupid gag. Kind of like Tropic Thunder's opening sequence that made fun of Eddie Murphey's Nutty Professor. And they continued this gag, making fun of other stupid T-Rex escapes, like the first Jurassic Park theory that they can't detect motion, so they can't see you if you stand still.

I like a the stylistic choice of letting a gag continue past the point where you're "supposed" to laugh. It's as if the movie were self-consciously making fun of its own stupidity, which (again) is a second level of humor over and above the pee. It's a joke about a joke, not about a bodily function. But if pee was all you saw in it, well, I can understand thinking that's not funny.


I think Roger Ebert said it better:

"The show and the film will never be confused, but they share one thing in common: deliriously fake locations, props and special effects. The dinosaurs are so obviously not really there in shots where they menace humans that you could almost say their shots are about how they're not really there. Confronted with such effects, the actors make not the slightest effort to appear terrified, amazed or sometimes even mildly concerned. Some might consider that a weakness. I suspect it is more of a deliberate choice, and I say I enjoyed it."

I enjoyed it, too, because (again) it implies a self-consciousness to the cheesiness and fakeness. Your criticism would be like bashing South Park for its shoddy animation. Shoddy animation is part of the joke. Maybe you missed some of the levels of this "dumb" comedy.

You're right, you don't know what kids like today. Vulgarity, crude sexual humor, bodily functions, yeah that pretty much sums it up. Have you ever noticed how many butt jokes are in Spongebob? My 8-yr-old loved this movie. I probably can't speak for most families, but this is family fun for us.

Well, damn, I guess I don't fall into a marketing "demographic." I actually prefer movies where you can't immediately tell it's a product of a marketing strategy targeting a specfic group of people, as if we're all reducable to marketing categories. "Will Ferrell meets Land of the Lost" is one of the best Hollywood ideas I've heard in a long time, precisely because you think, "WTF? What are they thinking? That will never work!" I enjoyed the intentional juxtaposition of two things that obviously do not go together. I think the fact that it upsets people like you is exactly what is so funny about the whole thing. The original series was just begging to be made fun of; yes, I watched it as a child, too. But I can't believe anyone would ever call themselves a *fan.* I think that's funny, too, that there are actually people out there who are big enough fans of the original cheesy show who took this remake seriously enough to be annoyed that someone dared make fun of something they liked as a child. I like that subversive quality to the movie.

Re: *** Official LAND OF THE LOST Review Thread

[wrong thread. sorry]

Re: *** Official LAND OF THE LOST Discussion Thread

Just wanted to say they changed their mind. This is coming within a few weeks to my theater. Woo hoo!



I guess they got enough complaints. Me and a co-worker both complained. My co-worker had the smarts to complain on behalf of listeners to give it some muscle. However, he didn't get a free pass like I did.

A note: the remake of Journey to the Center of the Earth didn't come here at all to my knowledge. So I guess somebody doesn't like adventure stuff except for the can't miss, like King Kong.

Re: *** Official LAND OF THE LOST Discussion Thread

As soon as I heard Will Ferrell was involved all interest in seeing this was lost. No marketing promos were needed.

To bad too. The original concept is interesting enough to warrant a straight on movie adaptation. Something that is highly unlikely to happen now.

I liked parts of this movie but the dumbed down humor is what killed it for me. Will Ferrel should not have been in this movie.

 

I could say the same thing about people who like Will Ferrell.  It seems that liking this movie boils down to just that--liking Ferrell and his act.