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.
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nightbiker-12 August 2009
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mrsaffleck-231 August 2009Ha I have just read the above reviews and although I agree in practice I don't think many of you have watched Asylum movies before.
In fact the land that time forgot is great in comparison to the delights of Transmorphers and Alien Vrs Hunter.
At least the dinosaurs looked relatively real by maybe 2001 standards which is'nt to bad for this studio.
The acting is bad, the setup sux, the plot cant be knocked really cos it has been done well in the past, but the delivery could be better.
Overall I would'nt actually recommend it to anyone unless they really liked cheesy movies, but it is worth a watch if the alternate is a root canal. -
RoidDroidVoid29 July 2009I 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. -
ChimpyMatlock1 August 2009This 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. -
ken_bethell3 August 2009Most 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.
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The Land That Time Forgot starts late one night out on the open Ocean in the Bermuda Triangle during a raging thunder storm, a small boat with some holidaying tourists is caught up in the storm. Captain Burroughs (Timothy Bottoms) notices a strange bright light up ahead which the boats heads straight for... The next morning & the storm has eased but the engine has broken down & all of the on-board instruments appear broken too, stranded in the middle of the Ocean supposedly miles from anywhere the only hope the passengers have is a mysterious island they spot in the distance. They make it to the island & go ashore where they discover all manner of Dinosaurs & Prehistoric creatures, they also find other stranded humans on the island & together they decide to work together to try & get off the island & back to civilisation...
Directed & starring C. Thomas Howell & produced by the ever awful company The Asylum this is an adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel which had already been adapted into the Amicus produced fun adventure monster film The Land That Time Forgot (1975) that starred Doug McClure & quite frankly is ten times the film that this modern update is or ever will be. C. Thomas Howell is no stranger to ripping-off modern classics having already been responsible for War of the Worlds (2005) & The Day the Earth Stopped (2008) which are also both terrible & were also produced by the rip-off kings The Asylum. This is the type of awful low budget rubbish that regularly turns up on the Sci-Fi Channel as a bunch of bland lifeless character's get stranded on an island inhabited by a few Dinosaurs & spend most of the film wandering around talking & trying to get off th island. The zero budget means that the Dinosaurs get very little screen time & the attack scenes are poor, they are very static as someone runs & a T-Rex chases them, that's as exciting & imaginative it gets I'm afraid. Towards the end of the film the surviving character's decide to escape the island on a submarine & has to leave Howell behind but why didn't they just stop the submarine in the water & wait for Howell? Aren't submarines able to stop? The original 1975 film is full of action & adventure & sure the effects are weak by todays standards it's so much more fun & entertaining than this limp & lifeless bore of a film that should be used as a cure for insomnia rather than for entertainment purposes.
The whole production is cheap & shoddy, despite being stranded on an island & fighting off Dinosaurs everyones clothes stay clean & never get ripped, their faces never become dirty & their hair is always perfect & despite being stranded on the island for years some of the character's have perfect teeth & don't seem to need to shave. The CGI computer effects are pretty bad but I will admit they are not as bad as some of the CGI I have seen in films from The Asylum although that's very scant praise & should not be considered as a positive. Despite an entire island there are very few Dinosaurs on show, there are two T-Rex's, a Pterodactyl & something with a tentacle. I say something with a tentacle because we only ever see a single tentacle that one character wrestles with a bit before it lets him go for no apparent reason. There's a couple of mildly gory moments as someone is bitten in half & there's a severed foot.
Filmed in California in Malibu & Long Beach apparently the locales don't look intimidating enough & you never feel any atmosphere or danger, I mean where's the erupting Volcano that destroys the island? The acting is bad, Howell seems uninterested, Timothy Bottoms seems lost while the guy who wrote this thing Darren Dalton has a fairly large role as Cole Stevens.
The Land That Time Forgot is a terrible low budget sci-fi fantasy film with awful production values, sloppy action & bad CGI Dinosaurs. Stick to the 1975 version as it's tens better than this. -
I flicked to the SyFy channel near the start of the movie and instantly judged this to be a cliched, awful CGI, straight-to-video B-movie, and while it is these things, it is also surprisingly watcheable.
After marooning on a desert island, the cast find they are not the first to be marooned there, in addition there are also dinosaurs, well it is the bermuda triangle.
The CGI is very outdated and you have to force yourself to believe it for it to work. The female and male roles are very cliched with women being supportive and men being action-oriented, they are generally ridiculously brazen and immune to post-dino PTSD. Having said that couples are given more than a few moments of embracing and it definitely seems that no-one is an island on this island. These heroes are human.
I was surprised to find themes of brain over brawn, with solutions to predicaments typically having a plan created, and with the final plan being thought up out of geeky scientific knowledge. I was also surprised at the level of working together and the lack of animosity, especially when the nazis are encountered, as it turns out to be more like that Christmas football game in no-man's land than trench-warfare. There is some skullduggery, but overall the theme is of helping each other, and teamwork!
The movie ending is fairly warm-hearted and positive. -
alex-303219 August 2009"The Land That Time Forgot", 2009, a new movie. I liked the sound of the title and the fact that it only came out this year made me anxious for an epic story. I didn't know what to expect else that it would be a adventure film. But oh my, what was I disappointed. At the moment that I'm writing this I'm still watching the movie, for about 25 minutes now. After the first 5 minutes I already saw the most horrible, forced acting I'd ever see. There is no suspense, no build-up to the plot. You're just thrown in between crappy plastic dinosaurs.
This movie could've been great, it could've been the modern Jurassic Park if it weren't for a crappy script, even crappier acting and éven worse effects. And looking above my comment you'd see I'm not the only one who thinks this.
So to sum it up, we have horrible acting, effects, dialogues and script. But there are two, no three things I can be positive about in this film; 1 - The camera quality is well done This means the quality of the screens, I do not mention the camera work like composition and capturing, those are as lame and uninspiring as can be.
2 - The sound is nicely done Though the music is not very memorable, the sound effects of the dinosaurs etcetera are very well done. Really massive.. Too bad they come out of plastic children-toys dinosaurs..
3 - The movie ends sometime, and I will never-ever have to watch it again! Woohoo! -
chris_dedrick10 August 2009When i think back at the 27 minutes of my life wasted on this movie....so many words come to mind....
- Disappointment - Disbelief - Amazement - Shock
....Someone financed and paid for this movie! What were they thinking? Who read the script and agreed to make this? If you have a limited budget, go out and make Blaire Witch 3, don't attempt to make a CGI extravaganza!!
I love the post by Mark Ross. In my 27 minutes of viewing time, i did love the fact that the guy who fell off the cliff was covered in blood before he even hit the ground!
For those who don't want to sit through the whole 27 minutes, just check out the first 5. Watch the people on board look amazed as they wake up from the storm to blue skies and calm oceans. Watch their faces as they scour the waterline for a small slice of hope before one cries out...there is land!! As the camera pans in on their profile as they talk, the island keeps moving. In one shot it is over their left shoulder, and then in the next it is over their right.
I guess if you can believe that it has dinosaurs on it, you can also believe in an island that continually hops all over the place. The icing on the cake is the next shot has the boat about 30 meters from the island bearing down on them. I guess their engine was broken and it is easier for things to just happen rather than trying to explain them with some type of 'story line'.
Ahhhh a lot can happen in 27 minutes. Watching any part of this movie isn't a wise use of it. -
iancrockford-9630921 October 2018The original film and the novel were and still are a favourite of mine. Unfortunately this 2009 remake is possibly the worst film I have ever seen. Terrible acting. Even worse effects. Oh dear
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The dinosaur in this was that good, Ray Harryhausen would be proud of it. Usually, I prefer to review films that I really like and feel the need to recommend. Here's the thing, I recommend you turn off the TV when this is on and go do something more productive like slamming your head in the door. Okay, the film is for kids and adolescents... but this will just make them mad and want to smash up a telephone box. BAD BAD BAD. AWFUL. TERRIBLE. I wasted an hour of my life watching this, (I was asleep for some of the film, so it wasn't all bad).Screenplay 1/10, Acting 1/10, Plastic Dinosaur 2/10.
AVOID. -
sarejina1 April 2021I was a perfect movie to watch on a rainy afternoon. I see that many of the reviews are negative but it wasn't that bad. Having seen the original about 40 years ago, I really don't remember it, so I watched this for the enjoyment, not to compare the two. I thought it was a decent movie and liked how the story flowed. Yes, the CGI wasn't top notch, but that is to be expected in a b movie. When I watch a movie like this I try to pick who's going to die first, and I was wrong...so that tells me the movie wasn't as predictable as I thought it would be. If you don't take the movie too seriously you might enjoy it!
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brueggemanntami16 April 2020I don't understand all the terrible reviews. It wasn't the greatest movie that I have ever seen, but it was entertaining enough.
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filememore30 July 2009I don't have a problem with low budget movies. Cheap movies can be fun. This one however was ever so predictably and ridiculously brain dead that it made me write my first IMDb comment ever: Be warned. You will not be thrilled. You will not be entertained. You will hardly laugh about a few really stupid, endlessly repeated T Rex attacks. The effects are hardly existent. The scenery is made mostly of stock material cut together in the worst possible way. And the actor's lines sound like they are computer generated. If you should speak German or are a German and watch it in the original version you might have a laugh or two about the stupid Eastern European accent of the German soldiers later in the movie, but believe me, this isn't worth it. Stay away from this crap or you will throw away 90 minutes of your life time. One of the worst and most boring movies of all time!!!
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windtar22 February 2010I just watched it, absolutely awful.
This movie had terrible acting, dumb situations, and just... well....
Hardly any action, 1 boring dinosaur used twice, lol, well, other than 2 dead ones and a quickie underwater one, and 1 flying pterodactyl.
C. Thomas Howell and Bottoms acting were just bad.
They should be ashamed of themselves for not putting in more dinosaurs and cool stuff. I saw more action in the 1970's TV show land of the lost.
Watch the old 1960's version, way better.
Watch this version only if free and every other channel has infomercials on. -
Yet another C. Thomas Howell directed stinker 'courtesy' of The Asylum, this remake of the 1975 film of the same name, has a group of unlikeable clowns going back in time due to some Bermuda Triangle hijinks and being trapped on an island inhabited by atrociously CGI-ed dinosaurs.
Insane bad acting and a meandering plot make this film a chore to sit through (par for the course when talking of Asylum releases actually). Furthermore this movie somehow makes the first one mediocre somehow look Oscar-caliber and Doug McClure look like a seasoned Shakespearian thespian. I have no words to convey the sheer amount of ineptitude on display. Needless to say, this is a film to skip.
My Grade: F
Where I saw it: Instant Netflix via X-box 360) -
This movie is simply pathetic. Words can not express how poorly this movie was made. I watched it with my teenage daughter. Here are some of the things we noticed as we laughed through it.
1. The Island contains roads. Who built them? 2. Why are the T-Rex's always hiding in the same place? 3. The male character in the blue shirt is always freshly shaved, the
rest of the men, including the Germans are scruffy. 4. When the team of men went into the cave, their torch apparently lit
itself. 5. The dinosaurs do not leave footprints, nor do they kick up dirt/dust
as they walk. 6. When the first man dies, you can clearly see he is bloody before he
hits the ground from his fall. 7. When the skipper fills the water jug, you can see water spilling out
of it as he runs. When he stops running, the bottle is corked. 8. The blonde woman speaks about ten words after she is rescued. 9. When the men were hiding in the cave, they had several minutes to
rescue the blonde women who was tied up. For whatever reason, they
waited behind cover for her captures to return before making their
move. 10.The brunette actress has perfect make-up, hair and clothes through
the entire movie. Everyone else looks dirty. 11.The crew used Christmas lights to test the generator. Where did they
come from? 12.The man in the blue and white stripped shirt was eaten by a T-Rex,
and cut in half, though there was no blood during his death scene. 13.The submarine had enough power (in reverse) to un-beach itself and
return to the water.
That movie was 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back. -
martyns201027 August 2019How was this film ever released. Appalling on all levels with some of the worst acting I have ever seen
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Absthelion1 December 2019If I could have given this 0 stars, I would have. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE syfy movies. But I also adore Ray Harryhausen. This 'CGI' s**ts all over any stop motion genius. Lego Jurassic world looks more realistic. The story was horrendous. Please don't waste your time. Also, AT LEAST LOOK LIKE YOU'RE THROWING A GRENADE NOT FEEDING THE BIRDS.
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lordbowler21 March 2010First the good: This wasn't nearly as bad as Greg Evigan's Journey to the Center of The Earth or 100 Million BC. But it was worse than crap like Transmorphers and Terminators.
For anyone who may want to kill an hour and a half watching this, I'd recommend pulling out the 1975 Doug McClure classic instead. That movie you could watch time and again and enjoy despite the dated effects of that film.
Matter of fact any of the Doug McClure classics are worth it. Still waiting for Warlords of Atlantis to come out on DVD for US.
The only good: a German U-Boat and adding survivors from different time periods on the island which could have provided some interest.
I feel bad for C. Thomas Howell, he used to be good but has now been relegated to B-Movie Hell. -
deacon_linn4 February 2013One of the worst movies I have ever seen. How do you have a gun fight with 2 groups of people literally 10 feet apart and no one gets shot and then just get up and run past your enemies and everyone stops fighting? It made no sense at all, the acting sucked, the characters sucked, the plot sucked, the story sucked, and everything C. Thomas. Howell does has always sucked, bad.
People keep saying it's not that bad and/or a good cheesy movie... no definition of *good* can be added to this movie in any way unless you are being sarcastic or outright lying. It's not even worthy of the title of *B* movie. -
Michael_Elliott9 June 2013The Land That Time Forgot (2009)
* 1/2 (out of 4)
The Asylum adapts the famous Edgar Rice Burroughs novel about a group of people who get stranded on an island and soon realize that they're not alone. As with the Burroughs story, there are dinosaurs on this island but an added touch are some Nazis who don't realize that WWII is over. If you've never seen the 1975 version of this then it's best that you start there and leave this one here alone. This film doesn't have too much in common with the previous film or even the Burroughs novel for that matter but instead it's just a cheap excuse for The Asylum to make some cash. While this version is without question a bad movie I'd stop from calling it a horrible one. C. Thomas Howell acts in the film but he also directed it and considering the budget he had to work with I think he did a fine job. I thought the film flowed a lot better than you'd expect and it certainly looks more professional than a lot of the stuff that the studio puts out. Timothy Bottoms also offers up a good performance and the rest of the cast are good enough. With that said, everything else is pretty much a waste but I do think a bigger budget could have helped things. It turns out that the various survivors got on the island after going through the Bermuda Triangle and this includes some U.S. and German soldiers from WWII. I found this here to be an interesting touch and it's really too bad more wasn't done with it. The CGI dinosaurs look incredibly bad and I think it's safe to say that the effects in the 1975 version are much better (even when they weren't that great to begin with). Fans of the novel or the previous film should probably just stay clear of this because there's really not much of a connection. -
skellerman27 November 2009I thought "the land that time forgot" was a wonderful movie! first of all, I love dinosaurs,so maybe I am prejudice. The actors in the film were economical with their screen time. there were plenty of t-Rex shots, (although I could have seen a few more of the other animals shown: giant dragonflies, hawks, flying lizards, sea monsters, rats) nice use of dramatic audio, scenery, plot twists and turns, inventive anecdotes, character development. I thought it was great and I cant believe I haven't heard more people talking about it. that's all. just wanted to represent the other side of the scale, since all these "Debbie Downers" have given it such poor reviews. The CG I effects used are becoming outdated, but i read that as a throw-back to the history of the film, since it is a re-do, they were charming actually. I just wish I knew if the submarine or the ship made it out of the vortex, or if they were lost in oblivion. but that leaves it open for the sequel: "Back to the Land That Time Forgot" and I didn't even spoil the ending! enjoy!
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Wuchakk11 February 2013The 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- -
Theo Robertson12 May 2015There's nothing like a great remake and this remake of an infinitely superior film is nothing like a great remake . Directed and starring C Thomas Howell that tells you all you have to know . Add to this it's produced by Asylum it tells you even more and it's going to be a challenge of meeting the ten line criteria for this site
Supposedly based on Edgar Rice Burrough's adventure novel you get the impression no one who had worked on the film had read the novel . You don't think they might have seen the 1975 film version either . Instead you think the production team got invited in to the studio execs office and told "It features a shipwreck with people getting washed up on a strange island that has dinosaurs and a German U-boat crew . Now go and make a movie" . It's fairly obvious that no one was under any pressure to make a good film , or even stretch themselves in to making something ambitious enough to be mediocre . Despite all the faults of the prior film at least it was brilliantly entertaining and the lost land of Caprona did have an unearthly mystique to it . Here we have a film that is terminally boring and a location that never gives the impression that it wasn't filmed on some shoreline in California . Stick to the original which involves drama , imagination and excitement