

LOST IN SPACE
Reviewed by Jamie Peck
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Rating: ** (out of ****) 
New Line / 2:12 / 1998 / PG-13 (violence, innuendo, language)
Cast: William Hurt; Matt LeBlanc; Mimi Rogers; Jack Johnson; Heather 
Graham; Gary Oldman; Lacey Chabert; Jared Harris; Mark Goddard; Lennie 
James; voice of Dick Tufeld 
Director: Stephen Hopkins 
Screenplay: Akiva Goldsman
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The summer movie season gets off to a premature start this year with the 
early April release of "Lost in Space," a sloppy remake of the 
futuristic 1965-68 television series (which, ironically, was set in 
1997) and New Line Cinema's bid for franchise paradise. Upcoming 
installments, if any, had better be stronger than this one. After a 
decent set-up and a following 40 minutes or so that's considerable 
amusement, "Lost in Space" gets stranded with a bunch of hokey 
ridiculousness involving time portals, mutant spiders and older versions 
of several cast members; what starts off as slick, mindless 
entertainment slowly develops an irritating case of intrusive family 
values. If the first half of "Lost in Space" is satisfying junk food, 
then everything thereafter is an overstuffed club sandwich -- one loaded 
with ham and cheese. 

In 2058, Earth is sustaining itself by branching out into the cosmos, 
and one family is selected to play a key role in the colonization 
process. They are the Robinsons -- Professor John (William Hurt), his 
wife Maureen (Mimi Rogers) and their children Judy (Heather Graham), 
Penny (Lacey Chabert) and Will (Jack Johnson) -- and the intended plan 
is for them, along with gung-ho pilot Major Don West (Matt LeBlanc), to 
board the spacecraft Jupiter 2 and make a many-year journey to the 
distant planet Alpha Prime. Once there, the crew will establish some 
sort of portal that will allow Earthlings to make the jump to Alpha 
Prime in no time. But thanks to villainous saboteur and stowaway Dr. 
Smith (Gary Oldman) and his Global Sedition cohorts, things don't quite 
go so smoothly. Around a half-day into the flight, the Jupiter 2 is 
thrown off course. When everyone comes to, they're in a foreign place in 
an unspecified time, and must find their way back home or remain lost in 
space forever. 

In patches, "Lost in Space" is as glibly fun as a video game. Director 
Stephen Hopkins (that awful killer-lion flick "The Ghost and the 
Darkness") brings the major action sequences, surprisingly few though 
they are, to giddy, palpable life. Two extended bits stand out from the 
eventual blur: the initial siege on the Jupiter 2 by the nameless Robot 
programmed to protect and aid the Robinsons, and the search through a 
creepy ghost ship as the movie nears its midsection. That Robot (yes, he 
gets to say the immortal line, "Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!"), by the 
way, is a far better way to entertain the family audiences than the 
computer-generated Blawp, a cuddly, Gizmo-esque creature the Robinsons 
pick up on their trek. The Blawp doesn't even look like it's sharing the 
same scenes with the human actors, but most of the other special effects 
work nicely, especially the movie's sleek sets. 

The interesting ensemble cast is partially ill-used. Oldman always makes 
a good bad guy, and his "Lost in Space" work makes one wish that the 
movie hadn't cut to some special effect every time his Dr. Smith 
threatens to become a complex personality. On the plus side, Hurt and 
Johnson have a realistic father-and-son chemistry. Matt LeBlanc is 
essentially playing his "Friends" alter-ego as a hotshot hero (complete 
with one-liners like, "Okay, last one to kill a bad guy buys the 
beer!"), but his aloof swagger works, and this movie is, at least, way 
better than Ed. Mimi Rogers and Heather Graham (Rollergirl from "Boogie 
Nights"), lovely and talented though they are, are trotted out whenever 
a reaction shot is needed; Graham's sexual flirtation with LeBlanc is 
never developed and largely feels like wasted time. Spunky Lacey Chabert 
("Party of Five") fares the worst, sounding like she's been sucking on a 
helium tank while offscreen. 

"Lost in Space" was written by Akiva Goldsman, the man behind the script 
for the very underrated (and surely I can't be the only one to think so) 
"Batman & Robin." He's toned down the series' high camp factor in place 
of a dark, more sinister edge, which serves the first 60 minutes of the 
movie well. But "Lost in Space"'s murky tone and visuals just don't mesh 
with part two's elongated family therapy session. This year's first 
official summer release is a botched one, with too many distractions and 
flaws to even rank as pleasing eye-candy -- a big no-no as far as 
seasonal movies are concerned. As Robot might say, "Danger, moviegoers! 
Danger!" 
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© 1998 Jamie Peck
E-mail: [email-masked]
Visit the Reel Deal Online: http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~jpeck1/
"Suggestions, please, for the fourth movie in the series. How about 
‘Look Who's Talking Back,' in which the audience gets its turn?" -- 
Roger Ebert on "Look Who's Talking Now"