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