Leofwine_draca
THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT is another pathetic attempt by The Asylum to cash in on a then-popular Hollywood blockbuster, namely LAND OF THE LOST. This lacklustre cheapie is based on a novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs and has a washed-up Timothy Bottoms playing a character called Captain Burroughs, but otherwise it has nothing to do with the original book, which was filmed really well in Britain in 1974 and stars Doug McClure (one of my favourite childhood movies). This was directed by and stars C. Thomas Howell, who does a terrible job in both respects. Castaways end up on a desert island in the Bermuda Triangle, where they find themselves menaced by a badly-animated CGI T-Rex and some random Nazis. The acting is as poor as the effects work, and it's so interminable that it seems to go on and on and on.
Windgeisel
A few castaways stumble through a supersaturated tropical landscape full of grotesque CGI-errors.From the beginning, the characters and their short and dumb dialogues are totally annoying.I caught myself wishing one or the other protagonists getting a final demise by digestion. But you even can't enjoy this without laughing heartily.No question, this Caprona-slating hardly has anything to do with the first movie, and even less with the novel.If you want to survive this film, I recommend not to take it seriously... right from the start. It has at least a few involuntary giggles, so it has something like entertainment value.Peace
Wuchak
The 1975 version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "The Land that Time Forgot" with Doug McClure featured lame puppet-type dinosaurs, but made up for it with well-developed characters and a huge subtext, which was surprising for such a seemingly simple story.This made-for-TV 2009 version changes everything and I'm sort of glad because we already have the original that followed Burroughs' book pretty faithfully. The only similarity between this version and Burroughs' story is that there's an uncharted island, castaways, Germans, a U-boat and dinosaurs. That's it. This version features some sort of dimensional gateway where modern people and others from the last century meet on Caprona, the island. They try to figure out how to escape, how to get along and how to contend with dinosaurs, mostly a T-rex. Speaking of which, the T-rex doesn't look too bad for this type of micro-budget sci-fi, just don't expect "Jurassic Park" quality (although the story's arguably better and this version definitely has better women).C. Thomas Howell directed the film and is also a member of the likable cast. I appreciate the camaraderie that develops between the Americans and the Germans. Speaking of which, the WWI Germans are pretty convincing.As far as women go, Lindsey McKeon is the highlight as a shapely brunette, but there's also a good-looking blond (Anya Benton).FINAL WORD: Although it doesn't follow Burroughs' book at all, this 2009 TV version of "The Land that Time Forgot" is a worthwhile lost-on-a-deserted-island flick in the tradition of "Mysterious Island" and others, like "Planet of the Dinosaurs". If you enjoy movies of this ilk, you'll probably appreciate this one.The film runs 90 minutes and was shot in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, Long Beach and Malibu, CA.GRADE: B-
