The Land That Time Forgot (2009) Reviews

• Looks like a Sci-Fi channel original movie

  equazcion2009-07-29

  I can't say I got too far into this movie. If you've ever seen a Sci-Fi original movie, that should give you some idea of what you're in for. The CGI dinosaurs are laughable; they all look like cartoon cut-outs, which is unforgivable considering the current state of CGI technology. The characters are cliché. The blood looks like raspberry jam. This wreaks of a low-budget production all around, and worse, it wreaks of low effort. The acting was better than the film's other aspects, but could not possibly hope to redeem it. I don't like writing bad reviews when I feel a genuine effort has been made, and/or that there was care for the material, but this feels entirely derivative (even keeping in mind that it's a remake) and hastily slapped together, like a cheap TV movie to fill an empty time slot. Just to be clear, no, this isn't a fun B movie that's aware of itself. It seems to want you to take it seriously, as ridiculous as that request may seem to the viewer. I give it 3 stars to offer the benefit of the doubt, as I was too bored to watch very much of it.

• Sweet Jesus this was bad

  ChimpyMatlock2009-08-01

  This movie fails on almost every possible level: Bad acting: check. Poor direction: check. Hackneyed script: check. Painfully bad CG: check. Odd pacing: check. Timothy Bottoms looking embarrassed and wondering when he can go home and start drinking: check. Run screaming, tripping and flailing away from this sad attempt at a movie.

• Ouch!

  nightbiker-12009-08-02

  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.

• Come back Doug McClure, all is forgiven!

  ken_bethell2009-08-03

  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.

• Not great

  RoidDroidVoid2009-07-29

  I really wanted to like this movie as I have always liked C. Thomas Howell but unfortunately I can't say that I liked it. I can say that I watched it, but that's about it. I was able to sit through it and that may be the best that Howell can hope for. The dialog was a bit unimportant and even somewhat silly at times. The whole thing seemed like a compromise - which I am sure to some degree (as with anything under budget constraints) it was. There was no effort exhausted in building characters that you could care about or for that matter knew anything about. When someone got killed you just did not care - at all. The more fascinating and cerebral aspects of this story were completely glossed over or avoided altogether; although I did find it interesting that there was a brief discussion on the details of refining petroleum. which I had expected would be ignored (okay in movies I guess). Overall, it barely held my attention and came off as another lame Sci-Fi channel, low budget, bad CG feature. Don't get me wrong, there were some things to like, but I think in this case, Howell probably had his hands tied as far as time/money are concerned and more money/time could have been invested in script, effects and filming.