Lost In Space

Set in the year 2058, the family Robinson is chosen to sail out into space in search of other planets that might contain the natural resources Earth needs in order to survive its future. A colonization process, if you will. They are joined by able pilot West (LeBlanc), and evil uninvited stowaway (Oldman), who does not want to see the trip conclude on a successful tip. Eventually, their trek goes awry, and all are “lost in space”. “How do get back to Earth?” is the question that infests the rest of this sci-fi epic.

This film reminded me a lot of THE FIFTH ELEMENT (6/10) from the summer of 1997. It’s a film with a lot of flash, but very little actual substance. Admittedly, there isn’t an annoying character like Chris Tucker from the other film, but this film does run a little too long, and did lose me in regards to its complex time-travel / multi-dimensional story line. Having said that, the special effects in this movie were amazing, and the overall look and feel were also way above average. You really felt like you were in the future, and riding through space with these poor souls. Unfortunately for this chosen family, their 10-year old son is the smartest one in the group, and the father is too wrapped up in his work to notice the rest of his family (Ever heard that one before? Yawn!). The acting is OK, and I was especially surprised at the solid performance by TV Friend’s Matt LeBlanc who shows us all that he’s definitely more than just a pretty face.

On the down side, the family riff-raff that cuts through most of the picture is lame and time-consuming (even though we gotta give them credit for “trying” to develop characters in a sci-fi pic), the story line is hard to follow, the evil character in the movie actually tells people that he’s “evil”, and the movie goes on for about 20 minutes too long. On the slick side, many of the special effects are really cool (the sequence in which the family is “paralyzed” during the hyper-drive is awesome, and the animated monkey that joins the family halfway through the flic is mucho cool), the credit presentation at the end of the film is slamming, and the adventures that they fall into are somewhat thrilling (I will also admit that “somehow” they got me to semi-tear up near the conclusion of this picture….very odd…..). Overall, if you’re a big sci-fi fan, check this movie out for the special effects and challenging narrative, and if you’re not, I would still suggest seeing this movie, but then you could probably wait until it comes out on video so that you forward past some of the boring parts.

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian