Subject: Review: Lost in Space (1998)

From: "Berge Garabedian" <[email-masked]>
Date: 30 Apr 1998 05:16:27 GMT

LOST IN SPACE 
RATING: 7 / 10 --> Good movie

Review Date: April 10, 1998
Director: Stephen Hopkins
Writer: Akiva Goldsman
Producers: Carla Fry, Akiva Goldsman, Stephen Hopkins,
Mark W. Koch
Actors: William Hurt as John Robinson 
Mimi Rogers as Maureen Robinson 
Matt LeBlanc as Don West 
Heather Graham as Judy Robinson
Garry Oldman as Dr. Smith
Genre: Science-Fiction
Year of Release: 1998 

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 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. 

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. 

Visit JoBlo's Movie Reviews @ http://www.microtec.net/~drsuess/

© 1998 Berge Garabedian