'Land of Lost' lacks good jokes

Having taken over what is left of "dramatic" films, it appears that "special effects" threaten to also take over comedy. The only trouble is: An explosion is not funny.

You still need jokes, which is what "Land of the Lost" doesn't have. Will Ferrell can be very funny when he's a preening ice skater or running around in the nude in something like "Old School." The man has no shame when it comes to baring his, uh, body. One even has to admire him for trying a relatively dramatic role in "Stranger Than Fiction," which didn't deserve to be ignored. He was hilarious in "Talladega Nights," but there is an indication that his act is getting overly repetitive.

In any case, he's made a bad mistake by taking on action-fantasy with this latest effort. He should not be asked to anchor something as action-oriented as this, in which the comedy is supposed to come from him bumbling about as an ineffective scientist who thinks he's brilliant. After 15 minutes, you look for a joke. There are practically none in this laughless lost world. The special effects, though, are great.

The dinosaurs have full sets of teeth and all kind of critters, both prehistoric and alien, look impressively created. (Was the budget really $100 million? Could this be yet another sign of the end of civilization as we know it? Or does it mean that the movie industry is becoming just as reckless in spending as is the federal government?)

This film is based on the campy, el cheapo mid-'70s Saturday morning TV series which had pitiful effects but was, after all, on Saturday morning in another era. The dunderheaded scientist zipped back in time to try to milk laughs from his encounters with prehistoric creatures and then tried to get himself and his companions back home.

Poor Ferrell gets no help from the boorish slob billed as Danny McBride, whose character is meant, one can only suppose, to be a kind of fat sidekick to the leading man. The trouble is that Ferrell hardly is the hero type who requires a sidekick.

Anna Friel, complete with a British accent, plays a scientist who has nothing to do but stand around and occasionally allow a monkey boy to grope her breasts. Director Brad Silberling thinks this is so funny that he repeats it numerous times.

Chaka, the monkey, played by Jorma Taccone, is the only potentially comic creation on view. He comes from a land where there are 7,000 women for every male, which seems to delight the adolescent audience but might be a threat for more practically minded adult males. Nonetheless, most of the possibilities for him to steal the movie are wasted by not giving him much to do.

Ferrell, in the opening scene, attacks Matt Lauer on a television interview program in which his theories on time warping are questioned. Ferrell's time-traveling machine is big on a theme song from "A Chorus Line." There is no chance that this will do for "Chorus Line" what "WALL-E" did for "Hello, Dolly!"

With the puzzling success of the similarly laughless but still much better "Night at the Museum" sequel, there is a growing concern that producers think comedy will be helped by adding expensive special effects.

The only trouble is - you still need jokes.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com