The Land That Time Forgot

The original film and the novel were and still are a favourite of mine. Unfortunately this 2009 remake is possibly the worst film I have ever seen. Terrible acting. Even worse effects. Oh dear

I really wanted to like this -I've enjoyed this story since I was a child, and was looking forward to a more modern telling of it. Sadly, the acting was so forced, so deplorable, that it was actually painful to sit through this. Perhaps the movie actually improved toward the end -I'll never know. I wasn't able to handle watching this sad excuse for shovelware of a movie. I didn't go into this expecting a special-effects extravaganza. I just expected competent acting. I mean REALLY, when they insist on remaking movies, shouldn't they actually try to improve the performances? Sigh. I couldn't give it anything less than a 3 because the story itself is a timeless classic -the writing didn't fail here, the acting did. Not really worth the time. Thats about all I can really say.

I flicked to the SyFy channel near the start of the movie and instantly judged this to be a cliched, awful CGI, straight-to-video B-movie, and while it is these things, it is also surprisingly watcheable.

After marooning on a desert island, the cast find they are not the first to be marooned there, in addition there are also dinosaurs, well it is the bermuda triangle.

The CGI is very outdated and you have to force yourself to believe it for it to work. The female and male roles are very cliched with women being supportive and men being action-oriented, they are generally ridiculously brazen and immune to post-dino PTSD. Having said that couples are given more than a few moments of embracing and it definitely seems that no-one is an island on this island. These heroes are human.

I was surprised to find themes of brain over brawn, with solutions to predicaments typically having a plan created, and with the final plan being thought up out of geeky scientific knowledge. I was also surprised at the level of working together and the lack of animosity, especially when the nazis are encountered, as it turns out to be more like that Christmas football game in no-man's land than trench-warfare. There is some skullduggery, but overall the theme is of helping each other, and teamwork!

The movie ending is fairly warm-hearted and positive.

"The Land That Time Forgot", 2009, a new movie. I liked the sound of the title and the fact that it only came out this year made me anxious for an epic story. I didn't know what to expect else that it would be a adventure film. But oh my, what was I disappointed. At the moment that I'm writing this I'm still watching the movie, for about 25 minutes now. After the first 5 minutes I already saw the most horrible, forced acting I'd ever see. There is no suspense, no build-up to the plot. You're just thrown in between crappy plastic dinosaurs.

This movie could've been great, it could've been the modern Jurassic Park if it weren't for a crappy script, even crappier acting and éven worse effects. And looking above my comment you'd see I'm not the only one who thinks this.

So to sum it up, we have horrible acting, effects, dialogues and script. But there are two, no three things I can be positive about in this film; 1 - The camera quality is well done This means the quality of the screens, I do not mention the camera work like composition and capturing, those are as lame and uninspiring as can be.

2 - The sound is nicely done Though the music is not very memorable, the sound effects of the dinosaurs etcetera are very well done. Really massive.. Too bad they come out of plastic children-toys dinosaurs..

3 - The movie ends sometime, and I will never-ever have to watch it again! Woohoo!

Most Sci-Fi fans are prepared to tolerate a movies more notable deficiencies provided that the film has an interesting plot with state-of-the-art CGI. That the quality of the special effects were little better than 1975 movie means that this film has nothing to commend it whatsoever. The 1 point is for the women. They looked good even if they weren't called upon to act. What is the point in Hollywood making films like this with a budget so small that the movie appeared to have been made in one afternoon. Indeed frequent shots of the submarine showed the same seagulls unmoved! If Burroughs weren't already dead I think seeing this film might have killed him anyway. Not even Tarzan in super-CGI could have saved this turkey.