First, I'm not sure what the complaining about the ratings is all about. Most critics would have given this a 1 or 2 to read the professional reviews. I think a 5 or 6 is quite reasonable, unless you love Will Ferrell.

I tried, I really tried to watch the original Land of the Lost when it was on, but it was obviously for kids about 6-12 (boys and girls) that being fairly older than that (late teens to early 20's), I just couldn't get into it. I mean, a park ranger and his two kids? A poor man's Lost in Space.

I turned it on several times (I really remember all the creatures, but the stars faces are lost to me!) The problem I have with this is that I think the writers/producers/directors were torn between what audience to appeal to - fans of the original Land of the Lost who would be in their 40's - 50's, or young boys 12-16.

So, they made a movie that really didn't appeal to either. Just fans of Will. Fine. I get the zaniness of the movie. Three lovable losers. Pratfall after pratfall. But, the dino urine turned me off. I get it, you didn't have to hit me over the head twice more (the second dose, the, uh, yeah!).

But I suppose what really turned me off was reading that two of the original stars were given cameos and then cut. Sorry, that tells me the writers/producers/directors didn't really love the original (how could they, they must have been about 3 - or less! - when it originally aired!). Part of the appeal of nostalgia is tossing out little appreciations to the original fans - like cameos. Because they axed them, to me, it meant they also axed the original audience.

I get the humor, sarcasm, satire, but it didn't do much. 5 is much better than 1, but it's only a so-so comedy.

Pompous palaeontologist Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell) makes himself a laughing stock in an interview with Matt Lauer. Three years later, he's approach by Holly Cantrell (Anna Friel) who has been following his research. They go an expedition to a mysterious cave which is run by Will Stanton (Danny McBride) as a roadside attraction. They get sucked into another world. They rescue Chaka who is about to be killed by other primitives. They eventually encounter the Sleestaks and escape to Enik the Altrusian. Enik explains that the evil Zarn is looking to take over the universe.

I've got a feeling that people either wanted the old kids TV show or got tired of Will Ferrell. That doesn't stop me from laughing at some really fun gags. Comedies are the easiest to judge and hardest to explain. I laughed at this ridiculous parody. Therefore I judge it to be funny. I can't intellectualize the reason why. It's stupid and funny.

Despite being based on a kids show, this is not really a kids' film. The dialog can be a bit adult at times! And Chaka seemed to spend an awful lot of his time groping Holly! I could try to describe the plot, but frankly it's too bizarre and defies my sad ability to describe it. Suffice to say it's about three people (two of which are total idiots) stuck in some bizarre land where time/space are all jumbled and they have to somehow make things right and get back home. In the process, you see lots of dinosaurs and strange creatures that make this film like taking a hit of LSD.

I need to point out that I never saw the TV show "Land of the Lost" as I was a bit too old to watch it--and I hated Sid & Marty Krofft's shows (though they DID produce this movie). And, when I heard that this movie was coming out, I wasn't thrilled as I didn't want to see a silly kids show on the big screen. However, the film makers instead chose to parody their show--making fun of it by making several of the credits just too dumb to believe--sort of like sticking Ricky Bobby and Kyle Naughton, Jr. in a position to save the universe! Often the really dumb jokes, dialog and situations made me laugh but the film was uneven as well. There were also quite a few scenes that fell very flat or were just rather gross and super-low brow (such as the urine scene). For Will Ferrell fans, this would all be very familiar territory but for others it will probably be rather stupid and nonsensical. Low-brow and dumb throughout..but for me, in a good way.

Overall a very stupid movie...that STILL made me laugh.

By the way, Danny McBride sure seemed to be doing a great imitation of John C. Reilly. His character was a lot like the ones Reilly played in the Will Ferrell movies "Talladega Nights" and "Step-Brothers"--really, really dumb and quite funny. I wonder if this part was originally intended for Reilly--it was that close.

Dig that Matt Lauer! He's so darn cool!