this film is based on the campy tv show from the 1960 's under the same appellation .
mind you , most people ( including yours truly ) who will see this movie will not have seen any episodes from the original series .
the movie is really a stand alone in that regard .
the family robinson .
. .
lost in space .
plot : 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 .
critique : this film reminded me a lot of the fifth element ( 6 . 5/10 ) from the summer of 1997 .
it 's a film with a lot of flash , but very little actual substance .
admittedly , there is n'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 got ta 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 .
little known facts : this film will always be remembered as the movie that knocked titanic ( 7/10 ) out of the top spot at the box - office after 15 straight weeks at number one .
garry oldman is british , and was once married to uma thurman for about six months .
mimi rogers was tom cruise 's first wife .
Output: P