Lost in Space (1998)

[Robocop]

Man was 1998 a bad year for reboots/remakes. I thought Roland Emmerich's version of Godzilla was bad but this is actually a lot worse. Maybe because I had more of a previous attachment to Lost in Space then I did with Godzilla but none the less, this was puke. 

This captures nothing of the classic 60s TV series which was campy fun at its finest, words can't describe how much of an insult this movie was. The only redeeming qualities was that a few of the original cast members from the show feature in cameos and the sexy delicious Heather Graham was a good piece of casting as Judy. Other then that, shocking script, bland inferior characters especially to their 1960s counterparts, boring story that is a total mess, poor SPX and no fun factor!

Not to mention some of the worst CGI in a big budget production you'll ever see

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA7tsWxlRU8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA7tsWxlRU8</a>

[RCMerchant]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieuBkWHfCuc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieuBkWHfCuc</a>

[Jack]

Some of the characters were really obnoxious and unlikable and the ending...WTF?  I dunno, I thought it had some cool parts, a certain sense of mystery about it, but overall it was quite a failure.

[Hammock Rider]

You'd think a movie with a young Heather Graham, a space monkey and a robot would kick a$$.
But no.

[tracy]

I went to see it with hope since it had both Willian Hurt and Gary Oldman,two actors I like. However,it was pretty much a disappointment.

[The Burgomaster]

I saw this during its theatrical run and thought it was extremely dull and disappointing.  Yet, for some reason, I want to watch it again . . . it couldn't have been that bad, could it?

[Jim H]

I liked Gary Oldman's Dr. Smith as a whole new villain (he's a heck of a lot darker than the original normally was), but little else was of interest.  One of the weakest attempts to bring an old series to the big screen.

[tracy]

I saw this during its theatrical run and thought it was extremely dull and disappointing.  Yet, for some reason, I want to watch it again . . . it couldn't have been that bad, could it?

I thought that exact same thing about Star Trek 5.....maybe one day I'll give it another chance.

[Ted C]

That was one of the most badly bungled time travel plots ever. Furthermore, these people were so obviously making their situation worse through their own carelessness that I couldn't must much sympathy for them. I believe "too dumb to live" is the phrase that applies.

[JaseSF]

Yeah it was disppointing as a "Lost in Space" remake yet for some reason, I did enjoy moments of this perhaps because I tend to like complicated time travel stories and there's a cool Spider-monster involved as well. Could have been so much better though if they'd tried to make it more fun like the classic series used to be...instead it feels pretty dark and dreary for the most part.

[Robocop]

I liked Gary Oldman's Dr. Smith as a whole new villain (he's a heck of a lot darker than the original normally was), but little else was of interest.  One of the weakest attempts to bring an old series to the big screen.

I haven't seen this shocker for a long time but I recall that Gary Oldman's interpretation of Dr. Smith was a lot closer in terms of consistency/tone to what Dr. Smith originally was scheduled to be in the series. Jonathan Harris though did not care for the generic sneaky dark villain because he felt the character would lack substance and longevity which is why after the few episodes of season 1 he started to slowly evolve the character into what we know today. A comedic over the top dramatic approach was a stroke of genius from Jonathan. However even then,  I'd still take the darker, more serious version of Smith very early in season 1 over Gary Oldman's take because at least it still benefit from the charm of Jonathan Harris.    

[akiratubo]

The thing that really turned me off to this movie was that the family was so hateful and bitter toward each other.  The dad hated his entire family because they had the audacity to expect him to do stuff like love them and pay attention to them.  The mom hated the dad because he cared too much about work.  The younger daughter hated everyone because she was just a horrible b***h.  The Heather Graham daughter, er, she was a nonentity.  The little kid only caused everyone else problems.  Gary Oldman was, well, Gary Oldman.  Matthew Lawrence turned in the only sympathetic performance.  (And if that's not an indication of big problems, I don't know what is.)

Then that part at the end, when the dad went through time to warn his family about the giant rock that was going to kill them, but actually ended up distracting them from it looming ever closer on the main monitor because he wanted to have a Big Moment to let them know he learned how important they were ... argh.  Matthew Lawrence ended up being the one to save everyone by flying the ship through the core of the planet (???), while the dad did absolutely nothing.

[Robocop]

The thing that really turned me off to this movie was that the family was so hateful and bitter toward each other.  The dad hated his entire family because they had the audacity to expect him to do stuff like love them and pay attention to them.  The mom hated the dad because he cared too much about work.  The younger daughter hated everyone because she was just a horrible b***h.  The Heather Graham daughter, er, she was a nonentity.  The little kid only caused everyone else problems.  Gary Oldman was, well, Gary Oldman.  Matthew Lawrence turned in the only sympathetic performance.  (And if that's not an indication of big problems, I don't know what is.)

To add to the terrible character writing and mess of a so-called story that you describe so well, it was really the cast selection that further enhanced the badness of this remake. Gary Oldman was written as a boring generic villain which reflects his acting predictability outlined by the script which lacked all types of creativity and originality. William Hurt was simply put bland as a bat. It was as though he was disinterested the whole time only filling in the role for the pay check which he could get away with half asleep. Matt LeBlanc was a fitting piece of casting on paper. He actually resembles a lot of Mark Goddard so he doesn't so much apply to the casting mistake but he was bad for a host of other reasons which has to do with the script including the awful dialog and poor direction. His acting was wooden despite being in the perfected mold of a modern day Don, visually. The rest were just boring/annoying miscasts for different reasons with the exception of Heather Graham as Judy. Too much time was put into the visuel fx with the unlimited budget they had to work with, I'm sure it was impresive for its time but now it looks like a badly extracted video game. 

[ulthar]

 I'm sure it was impresive for its time but now it looks like a badly extracted video game. 

No, I think it looked like crap when it came out.

I'm one of the few around here that often defends CGI (I don't defend it's overuse, but I'm not as kneejerk against it as some seem to be), and I recall hating just about everything about this movie when I saw it, including the visuals.

I was so looking forward to it; "Lost in Space" was part of my childhood.  Arrrgh.

[Flangepart]

Ya wanna vent? Here's someone to help ya.

http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/17307-lost-in-space