June 6, 2009 | by Vic Holtreman 

Parental Warning: Land Of The Lost Is NOT Kid-Friendly

The look you'll have on your face if you bring your kids to Land of the Lost

Right off the bat I’ll say I know I’ll take some heat for this article because I haven’t seen Land of the Lost myself, and no doubt lots of young adult non-parents will be rolling their eyes over the point of this article. However being a parent myself, I thought this was most definitely worth bringing up.

Just as “regular” people use movie reviews to decide whether to see a movie or not, I’ve been looking at reviews about this film – and based on them I’m writing up this warning for parents who may be planning on taking their young children to see this.

You may remember Land of the Lost as a cheesy, innocuous Saturday morning TV show from your youth – so when the film was announced, I (and you may have) figured it would run along the same lines. Will Ferrell is in it? Maybe he’ll return to more of the sort of role he played in the wonderful film Elf.

You know, goofy dialog, cheesy adventure, humor aimed at the kids.

That is NOT what’s in this film.

Frankly, this didn’t interest me at all – the last film I really liked Ferrell in was the aforementioned Elf. And frankly, the advertising matched my expectations described above. However this looks like yet another case of misleading movie advertising, far worse than what we talk about here. Universal is pitching this as the sort of film described above – no biggie, right?

Well my first “huh?” moment came when I learned yesterday that Land of the Lost was not rated PG, but PG-13. PG-13? Really? Why in the heck would this movie need to be anything above a PG?

Keep in mind that these days “edgy” humor makes it into even PG-rated movies, so keep that in mind when you think about a PG-13 comedy.

Here are a few specifics for you to help you decide whether this is appropriate (I suppose you might consider these spoilers):

  • Language: Lots of uses of “damn,” “sh*t,” and even one F-bomb, an ethnic slur and an irreverant religious remark.
  • Very crude humor: One character that is defecated on from an animal and another that pours dinosaur urine all over himself.
  • Drug humor.
  • Drinking, smoking.
  • Violence including chases, comic but gross and grisly images.
  • Vulgar sexual references and jokes: Characters fondle one another and themselves. Other sexual gags include a mug depicting female anatomy, crude names for sexual activity and body parts, two men trying to kiss, wet t-shirt jokes, a low cut tank top, a male enhancement drug, topless females with carefully concealed bosoms.

Now before you go all “you’re a prude” on me, I loved The Hangover, an R-rated comedy that opened this weekend. But this movie is being marketed as a kid-friendly film to parents and kids on channels like Nickelodeon.

What kind of rocket scientist greenlights a project like this? Seriously. And did Sid & Marty Krofft really sign off on this? Maybe next we can have an HR Pufnstuf film that is all about a psychedelic drug trip with maybe a date rape and a murder thrown in for kicks (yes, I exagerrate – a little).

So while Land of the Lost may be funny on a certain level (which I seriously doubt, anyway), if you’re a Will Ferrell fan you would be best served by getting a babysitter and leaving the younger kids at HOME for this one.

Source: KansasCity.com, Wired.com, ParentPreviews.com

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  • Matt Keith
    Wow, I'm kinda suprised at this, but I doubt I'll being seeing this anyway....the only reason I have event the slightest interest in this movie is b/c I loved the show as a kid.
  • TK
    Thanks for the warning, Vic. I was looking forward to watching this with the family on DVD, but now I'll just watch with the grown ups. I really wish Ferrel would go back to his family friendly comedies.
  • Bernard
    Look I appreciate what you're trying to do here but these resources are readily available for anyone that wants to see the movie. My problem is that it seems preposterous to me that you're writing this sort of article having NOT seen the movie.
  • @Bernard

    LOL, it took until the third comment for that to be mentioned, I thought it might come even sooner. :-P

    I trust what other reviewers say about the film, especially when they're describing actual scenes/events. Or are you saying that the three sources I mentioned (and I checked more than three) are all inaccurate in their descriptions of what takes place in the film?

    As to resources being "readily available," of course there are - but the point is that this isn't like a PG-13 action movie were parents might thing "hey, maybe I'd better look into this." It's a movie based on a Saturday morning kids show, so why would parents think they even NEED to look into the content?

    Besides which, the vast majority of parents go on nothing more than the commercials before deciding to take their kids to see a movie.

    Vic
  • Chris
    OMG not two men trying to kiss?!?! The horror!!!
  • Yes, DO focus on that one item and don't look at everything else mentioned for kids or the cumulative list.

    Vic
  • Patrick
    I don't understand what happened to the ratings, like I said in the Hangover review, here in Canada The Hangover is rated (14A) and there were a bunch of kids in the theatre, all who witnessed the surprise at the end. Land of The Lost is also only rated (PG), absolutely mind boggling.
  • Psyko
    Well, thanks for the heads up. I'm not sure how anybody could get on your case even though you haven't seen it. Seeing a movie is not the only way to get a taste for the content, just like reading a book isn't the only way to get a taste of its content. Besides, it's not like you're reviewing it. You're just giving a heads up to people that are considering taking kids.
  • @ Patrick,

    I live in Canada too, but I didn't see any "kids" in our sold-out audience for The Hangover - they were all teenagers and up, no tweens or little ones... then again it was the 10:30 pm show...

    Great movie! Land of the Lost looks bad so I won't be seeing that today.
  • Doug
    Not seeing this one. If they're not going to honor the original television series enough, then I don't care. Ferrell could've made a film along the same lines, had his adult humor and still come out okay.

    Yeah, I can't believe Kroft is signing off on this stuff, either.
  • @Chris – You’re completely missing the point bud. Are the two guys trying to kiss really appropriate to kids for you? If you had kids, and you very well may, would you make it a point to find two guys that were making out and say “Hey kids look at this!” Or better yet, would you tell a group of parents and youngsters to come to your house to watch an awesome dinosaur chase a man then put on two guys kissing instead?

    The studios should have either brought the adult humor WAY down or ramped it up sharply and made it an R rated movie.
  • Matt Keith
    Vic,

    Would you compare the "humor" in this film to the "humor" in "Transformers"?
  • entertainmenttodayandbeyond
    I fully understand that the original 70's Sat morning show was chessy (I watched it when I was a little kid and also watched the SC-fi channel marathon last week)but I was still bummed when I learned Ferrell was turning it into a silly comedy. It is bombing at the box-office (on target for a $20 million dollar opening). That is very bad for a $100 million Plus studio film. Still I might go see it out of curiousity.


    chuck
  • @Matt

    Like I said, I haven't seen this. Sounds far worse than Transformers.

    Vic
  • Andy S
    This is sad indeed, Vic. I was kinda looking forward to this movie because of the nostalgia factor. This could have been a WONDERFUL movie if it was done along the lines of Elf (also my favorite Ferrell movie). Instead of witty humor and a cool story, we get Ferrell out of control and vulgar again. How original.
  • Cali
    Being a parent I appreciate things like this. For some reason it seems acceptable to market things like movies, games, and TV shows towards children that are most definitely not acceptable for them to view. I find it disheartening to find sexual, drug, and language references even in things like Nickelodeon. I'm a fairly young parent and still game and keep current on things and even though I'm fairly liberal I still govern things my children are exposed to. This is a prime example of of company attempting to market something as kid friendly that might very well break the barriers of what some parents find acceptable for their children to watch.
    That is Vic's point. It isn't that the movie might contain things inappropriate, it's that the movie is being toted and advertised as kid friendly. Don't advertise it as somethign that it's not.
  • Patrick
    @ Rob,

    I saw it last night, and there were a few kids that I would guess were about ten years old that were with their parents. Not a lot, as most people were well informed what kind of movie this was, but there shouldn't have even been one kid that age in the theatre, and my point is that there is no way this movie should be rated only (14A).
  • Daniel F
    I highly recomend you check out stranger than fiction Vic. It's way different than anything Ferrall has done before and it's a very smart funny film. I personally can't stand the guy and never enjoyed him, but that movie was great and he did well in it.

    I saw that a Land of the Lost movie was being made and I thought "Hey that's that show I loved as a kid" so I looked at the cast and said oh it's gonna suck.

    I'm not necessarily for all the parental warning stuff because I'm strongly against censorship and I think people are far to over protective of what they let their kids see as if it will scare them for life. Either way I guess the over protective parents would appreciate this so good on you I guess.
  • 790
    I've seen the film and all those things that Vic describes are totally accurate.
    ^
    Matt, the level of humor on LOTL is seriousy more immature than Transformers. Its not even close.

    There's a scene where they encounter a Pylon, as the two male characters touch it starts to vibrate. They both start singing, "do you believe in love after love" and then one of them tells Holly to sit on it,,,
    Oh yeah I loved it when after they arrive in Lost land, Holly rips off her pant leggings so know she's in short shorts. There's also more than one scene of her bending over in the background. (I couldn't believe what I was seeing in this?)

    Some people ask how can the Krofft's put there name on this, they did and if you watch the end credits their colorful kid friendly logo is the very last thing you see before the lights come on.

    What's that tell ya?
  • Andy S
    @790...

    It tells you what the world is all about these days.

    $$$$$$$$$
  • Matt Keith
    790,

    I think I might just forget about this film altogether....screw the nastolgia factor.
  • 790
    Yeah Andy, as a big fan of the tv show I was real impressed with the new look of the Sleestacks.
    Jim Henson couldn't have done them better,,,

    But I swear it looked like Farrell held a gun to the Krofft's and told them, "its my way or the highway."
    I would really like to hear what they have to say about the script as it was kid offensive not friendly...

    The film was one big wtf moment after another,,,
  • 790
    Matt,wait for the used 99c copy. :-)

    It could have been a real great homage to the original but it came off as a softcore porn with the sex scenes cut out.

    Real bizarre direction I can't believe this happened. Keep in mind I'm holding back some stuff because Vic will prob edit it out. Its that bad,,,
  • Land of the Lost
    This was a very funny movie. It's really not for the younger kids directly but I don't see a big problem for say young teens. I really loved it I think this film was a perfect mix of innocent and adult humour without going overboard either way. I don't think that this movie should be compared to the hangover at all. The hangover movie is aimed at adults with adult humour. Now keep in mind that I was never a fan of the original Land of the Lost TV show. I am definitely getting the Land of the Lost movie on blue-ray when it comes out..
  • I am so glad reviewers and comment sites are talking about this.... What misguided marketing! Hardly a surprise, but still, a dissappointment. I like all kinds of movies, and I enjoy taking my 7-yr-old son to movies. He's pretty media savvy, but still just has the child's sensibility of wanting to see 'cool' stuff that he sees advertised and most of the schoolyard will see. So we went to see this, and I was left totally turned off. The crudity, and especially language, are totally inappropriate for younger children. But it's dressed up with creature effects, and starring a "funnyman", and thus gives the impression of family-friendly. The creators got the content, and tone, totally off. Anyway, my son was entertained so what can I say!?! You can see he and I talk about the movie on YouTube: "Gab and Max review Land of the Lost"
  • Ryan
    I got one thing to say about this, It's rated PG13! Open ya eyes! It don't take a genius to see that and ask now why's it not have that kid friendly PG rating?
    The rating is there to help you make an informed decision. I don't have any kids but am quite aware the rating is actually meaningful. And cmon, Will Farrell doing kid friendly movies all his life?
  • greenknight333
    Hate Will Ferrel so this won't be hard to pass on...The last movie I actually saw him in that he was in a starring role was ELF...and he annoyed the hell out of me in that...
  • wes
    The tv show was a saturday morning mainstay for me. It's a shame they wasted the property on an avenue for Ferrell garbage. When I saw that he was starring, I lost interest. Then I almost changed my mind after seeing the previews. It really is being mismarketed. Thanks' Vic for helping me not waste ten bucks.
  • Daniel F
    Actually Ryan PG13 more often than not is fairly tame. Most of the tame.
  • @Daniel F

    PG-13 stopped being "tame" quite a while back. Now for the most part it represents an R-rated movie with just the blood and (most) explicit nudity removed. And please for the love of Pete don't bring up the whole "censorship" thing which makes NO sense in the context of this article or this film.

    @Ryan

    While *I* pay attention to ratings and research films before deciding to let me daughter see them, sadly, most parents don't. And up until a couple of days ago I just ASSUMED this was PG based on the source material, as I'm betting many parents did.

    They're working on a Smurfs movie, who would walk in expecting that to be PG-13 and have sexually explicit humor and foul language? No doubt they'll find a way to inject some of both into THAT "family-friendly" film as well.

    Vic
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