Toward the end of the comedy remake of Sid and Marty Krofft's '70s lunchbox leftover "Land of the Lost," Will Ferrell is eaten by a T. rex and then excreted out the creature's back end. Fans will know to interpret this as a sort of personal artistic statement from the comedian -- a metaphor for most of his movies and for what happens to audiences that go in hoping for another "Anchorman" and come out smelling of "Step Brothers" and "Semi-Pro."

We don't actually get to see Ferrell emerge from the dinosaur butt because, in a strange way, "Land of the Lost" is faithful to the low-budget feel of its Saturday-morning TV ancestor, only in late-2000s multiplex style: It's cheap-looking (dinosaurs and other beasts here look like CGI loaners from Spielberg), deeply mediocre and predictable.

Then again, consider the source material, keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times and try to have fun. "Land of the Lost" is not completely terrible, even though its more laugh-worthy bits have already been seen in endless ads for the movie.

Ferrell's Rick Marshall, a crackpot scientist in a career slump, is transported through time-space with a comely assistant (Anna Friel) and an unwitting dillweed (Danny McBride) to a parallel dimension. Behold the Land of the Lost: part jungle, part desert, part Six Flags -- a junkyard strewn with pop culture's detritus, inhabited by dinosaurs, zombielike lizard men (the Sleestaks) and, of course, the furry Pakune known as Chaka (Jorma Taccone), who deservedly gets more laughs than Ferrell. It seems everyone gets more laughs than Ferrell here, including "Today" host Matt Lauer, who makes a delightful cameo.

-- Hank Stuever (June 5, 2009)

Contains crude humor and cheap gore.