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LAND OF THE LOSTMovie Reviews
Comedy about a scientist, his assistant and a redneck survivalist sucked back in time and trying to survive an alternative universe full of marauding dinosaurs and fantastic creatures. Cast:Will Ferrell, Danny R. McBride, Anna Friel, Jorma TacconeDirector:Brad SilberlingRelease Date:June 5, 2009DVD Release:October 20, 2009From:UniversalRating:PG-13Length:1 hr 42 min
Land of the Lost played to weak reviews. Reviews were mixed. • Roger Moore wrote in the Orlando Sentinel, "Stupid on an epic scale or epic on a stupid one... as close as Will Ferrell comes these days to a 'kid friendly' movie." • And Colin Covert wrote in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "...rowdy, trippy and surprisingly raunchy.... It's such a skewed, quirky misfire that I found its idiocies oddly entertaining." More Reviews Below...
Land of the Lost Positive Reviews (38 Reviews, reviews below)
Leah Rozen, People: WEAK(cg) "...can't decide if it's a wild and crazy comedy, a laid-back spoof or a full-on Jurassic Park Jr. There are funny lines and bits, but mostly this is a long slog."(See all of Leah Rozen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 114 words, 06/04/09
Richard Corliss, Time: FAIR "Ferrell's latest excursion into delusions of manhood... an action comedy with the sloppy construction and saving grace notes of the star's other movies."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 973 words, 06/05/09
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: MODERATE(cg) "...anything-goes junk. The film's only conviction is its investment in its total lack of conviction.... it has stray amusing tidbits, but overall it leaves you feeling splattered."(See all of Owen Gleiberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 277 words, 06/05/09
Claudia Puig, USA Today: MODERATE(cg) "There are some absurd moments, such as the running 'Chorus Line' jokes and a bizarre duet of Cher's 'Believe'... But the humor doesn't last long enough..."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 266 words, 06/04/09
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (10 Reviews)
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: WEAK "It's no surprise... the director, Brad Silberling, and the writers, Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas, don't give Ferrell and company much to do."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 579 words, 06/05/09
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: POOR(cg) "...lumbering, ha-ha-look-what-we-remade action-comedy is a high-concept disaster.... This 'Land' exists at the bottom of the pop-cultural barrel."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 483 words, 06/05/09
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: VERY GOOD(cg) "...relies on the kind of goofball humor that's positively pre-historic. But it works... I guess you have to be in the mood for a goofball picture like this. I guess I was."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 660 words, 06/05/09
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "Like its characters, the film keeps getting lost too, stumbling as it struggles to keep kids and adults from squirming in their seats."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 689 words, 06/05/09
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: POOR(cg) "Will Ferrell's terminally stupid, sloppy, campy and cheesy -- and thoroughly unexciting and unfunny -- experiment in 'family entertainment.' "(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 479 words, 06/05/09
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: WEAK(cg) "...90 minutes of bickering and blase under-reaction to outrageous events, interrupted by gross-out scraps such as Ferrell's run-in with an enormous mosquito..."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 628 words, 06/05/09
Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: POOR(cg) "...sketch-comedy material stretched out without much imagination and a high rate of misfires.... one of those films so caught up in its concept it has forgotten its audience."(See all of Liam Lacey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 717 words, 06/05/09
Ella Taylor, LA Weekly: MODERATE "...gets its knickers in such a twist trying to curry favor with several demographics at once... it ends up sagging into a pleasantly undistinguished pudding."(See all of Ella Taylor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 223 words, 06/04/09
Hank Stuever, Washington Post: WEAK(cg) "...everyone gets more laughs than Ferrell here, especially McBride, but also a giant mosquito, a vibrating obelisk, a crab and the furry morning anchor..."(See all of Hank Stuever's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 795 words, 06/05/09
Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle/San Francisco Chronicle: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...as retro-trippy as humanly possible, utilizing lizard suits, woozy Theramin music and scenes that Salvador Dali might have cooked up for a stoner movie."(See all of Amy Biancolli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 601 words, 06/05/09
Tom Maurstad, Dallas Morning News: VERY GOOD(cg) "...always weird, sometimes aimless but occasionally really funny... part 'Planet of the Apes,' part 'Jurassic Park' and part sock-puppet theater."(See all of Tom Maurstad's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 461 words, 06/05/09
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: MODERATE(cg) "...another Will Ferrell knuckleheader - he takes off his shirt, thrusts his chest tufts and beer gut, and says dopey stuff that'll elicit laughs."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 556 words, 06/05/09
Ty Burr, Boston Globe: WEAK(cg) "Genially terrible... lazy, sloppy multiplex filler, good for a few solid giggles and not much more.... Sid and Marty Krofft deserve better and so do you."(See all of Ty Burr's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 755 words, 06/05/09
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...rowdy, trippy and surprisingly raunchy.... It's such a skewed, quirky misfire that I found its idiocies oddly entertaining."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 603 words, 06/05/09
John Hartl, Seattle Times: MODERATE(cg) "...jokes about dinosaur dung, saliva and genitalia and to construct an entire scene around the uses of dinosaur urine. Sad to say, there's not much else going on..."(See all of John Hartl's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 506 words, 06/05/09
Mike Russell, Portland Oregonian: VERY GOOD(cg) "...keenly understands that what was once scary is now ridiculous.... I don't want to oversell it, but I laughed a lot harder than I thought I would."(See all of Mike Russell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 774 words, 06/05/09
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Audiences of a certain sort will be dumbstruck by how high the silliness gets piled; but whether or not you're puffin' stuff, you'll likely get lost in laughter."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 313 words, 06/05/09
Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: MODERATE(cg) "The language here would've made my parents turn off the TV set.... Just because a movie has dinosaurs doesn't mean it's for kids."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 557 words, 06/04/09
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: WEAK(cg) "...becomes an endurance test - one that's too borderline bawdy for families and too dull and rote for anyone over 15. Who, exactly, is the intended audience for this drivel?"(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 565 words, 06/05/09
Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...offers a rare occasion for Ferrell to put spin on his usual knack for playing characters who are dumber than they think they are (and even dumber than they look)."(See all of Michael Sragow's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 497 words, 06/05/09
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: MODERATE(cg) "Ferrell's approach is underplayed and outlandish. For too brief a moment, it defines the genre that the comic actor is helping create: American Absurdism."(See all of Lisa Kennedy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 474 words, 06/05/09
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (4 Reviews)
Ella Taylor, LA Weekly: MODERATE "...gets its knickers in such a twist trying to curry favor with several demographics at once... it ends up sagging into a pleasantly undistinguished pudding."(See all of Ella Taylor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 223 words, 06/04/09
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: WEAK "It's no surprise... the director, Brad Silberling, and the writers, Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas, don't give Ferrell and company much to do."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 579 words, 06/05/09
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: POOR "...a dramatically, thematically and artistically bankrupt comic fantasy... It's hard to exaggerate the dispiriting vacuousness of the film..."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 427 words, 06/05/09
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "Like its characters, the film keeps getting lost too, stumbling as it struggles to keep kids and adults from squirming in their seats."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 689 words, 06/05/09
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Brian Lowry, Daily Variety: WEAK "...feels as though someone at Universal was already planning the theme-park ride spinoff before taking a painfully wrong turn with the movie."(See all of Brian Lowry's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 779 words, 06/04/09
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "Like its characters, the film keeps getting lost too, stumbling as it struggles to keep kids and adults from squirming in their seats."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 689 words, 06/05/09
Manohla Dargis, New York Times: WEAK "It's no surprise... the director, Brad Silberling, and the writers, Chris Henchy and Dennis McNicholas, don't give Ferrell and company much to do."(See all of Manohla Dargis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 579 words, 06/05/09
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: POOR "...a dramatically, thematically and artistically bankrupt comic fantasy... It's hard to exaggerate the dispiriting vacuousness of the film..."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 427 words, 06/05/09
20.2 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Land of the Lost's reviews are separated by an average 20.2 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Land of the Lost (38 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Land of the Lost's reviews cover 77.1% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 19,346 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 509 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Land of the Lost Coverage, Volume & Length (38 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 1.5 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Land of the Lost's reviews on average broke 1.5 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Land of the Lost's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Land of the Lost (38 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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