A Will Ferrell comedy comes with certain expectations, and the latest Hollywood adaptation of a beloved TV show does not disappoint on that front. Whether fans of the original Krofft Brothers cult TV show will go along with it is another story.

Ferrell plays a bumbling fool, who also happens to be a scientist ahead of his time. Laughed out of the profession, he's now a junk food addict slumming it, teaching smartarse kids (including Role Models' scene stealer Bobb'e J. Thompson) science. When a young admirer (Brit actress Anna Friel from Pushing Daisies) of his out-there theories suddenly turns up and inspires him to test them in a practical environment, the two are transported to a mysterious world that's a cross between prehistoric and post-apocalyptic. Along for the ride is white trash Will Stanton (played by Danny McBride of Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder, who is obviously the go-to guy for trailer trash roles), and once they arrive in this other-world, man-ape Cha-Ka (Saturday Night Live's Jorma Taccone).

Aimed at a family audience, the best thing about Land Of The Lost is that it's a film both father and son will enjoy. Dad will reminisce back to Saturday morning TV kitsch and understand the drug and sexual references whilst son will get off on the slapstick, dinosaurs and fantastic premise. Credit for this must be given to director Brad Silberling (Casper, Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events) who has a knack for delivering family entertainment that doesn't play to the lowest common denominator. That said, fart, piss and all sorts of lowbrow humour that's de rigueur in a Will Ferrell movie ample lot of screen time. And this is perhaps the movie's downfall; for all the laughs these scenes deliver, Land Of The Lost fails to transport the audience completely into its imaginative world, which the TV show that inspired it did so skillfully and at a fraction of the cost. Make sure you stay through the closing credits for the sequel wishful thinking.