I know the story of the show: a family of astronauts in the future of 1997(!) took a trip to space to do something and they got lost with a weirdo in their backseat. Oh, and the little boy in the show has a robot. They meet aliens and whatnot, and have a general family existence while being... LOST IN SPACE. Perhaps it was the corny robot talking about DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER all the time and the generally boring stories that filled the scripts of the show, but without Dr Smith's alliterations the show "Lost in Space" would have been extremely unbearable. Thanks to such a villain, the memory of the show lasted well into the 1990s and remained favorable enough to allow a movie to be made about it.
The movie starts out pretty much the like the show. The difference is that they take a great deal of time and energy talking about each character and their flaws. Such an effort pays off for the plot, which depends heavily on these character elements. With the new translation of the Robinson family journey comes a new interpretation of the characters and new actors to play them.
Our patriarch is Prof. John Robinson (William Hurt). He's a man with a need to see the world at peace, yet he cannot escape his warrior father's shadow. The professor has tried to stay away from war his entire life and retreats to science for solace. He finds that the world is polluted beyond repair in humanity's lifetime, so he sets his sights on a pristine planet for colonization: Alpha One. To get there would take 10 years in cryo-stasis, so he devises a plan to make that trip shorter for future colonists by making a "hypergate"--a device that works like a space wormhole--on both Alpha One and Earth that would bridge the time gap. Prof. Robinson has to get to Alpha One before this can happen and he needs a crew to get there in the experimental Jupiter 2 spacecraft.
Enter the professor's wife, Dr. Maureen Robinson (Mimi Rogers) as the ship's doctor, his single-minded grown daughter Judy (Heather Graham) as the science officer and fighter pilot Maj. Don West (Matt LeBlanc) as the ship's pilot. The professor decides that it's not best to leave the children behind, so he brings troublesome young Penny (Lacey Chabert) and little genius Will Robinson (Jack Johnson). The more people that get on this ship, the more it begins to look like a family outing instead of a scientific mission. All that changes as an unknown entity gets aboard the Jupiter 2 undetected.
Said entity is Dr. Zachary Smith(the wonderful Gary Oldman), an agent for the global seditionist group that is at war with the current government. His mission is to turn the onboard robot into a killing machine to wipe out the Robinson family. He doesn't get very far and has to help the Robinsons and the Major stop the robot. By the time they do that, the ship's already off course and headed for the sun. The Jupiter 2 can't escape the sun's gravity and the only way to get away is to go through the sun--via the onboard hyperdrive. There's no way to navigate in hyperdrive, so they take the chance.
That's when the movie begins to get interesting.
The scenes and sets up until this point have been great, but from here on out it's absolutely amazing. Against the backgrounds there's action, adventure, science and mystery. At the end of the entire story, there's a lesson to be learned and more adventures to experience as the credits roll. It leaves you wanting more than what's given. For me it goes beyond the movie's contents because this movie is yet another glimpse into the future that will never exist.
A sad thing these movie futures; so grand in their scope while so alluring in their promise of prosperity. Yet I know that the movie was a work of fiction beyond any shadow of a doubt, because the government actually listened to--and backed!--a scientist with a halfway decent idea that didn't involve killing another person.
If this movie took out Titanic at the box office, then it's worth seeing.
CHOICE CUTS:
- The Jupiter-2 is an awesome piece of industrial design in action. It's a saucer ship unlike anything I've ever seen before in science fiction. Inside and out, I was impressed by everything I saw right down to the Jupiter 2 interfaces.
- The hyperdrive's ability to become the deus ex machina to bust the Robinsons out of problems they have is notable.
- The Robot (voiced by veteran narrator Dick Tufeld) comes in the brand-new version and the rebuilt one, which strangely looks like the original Robot from the TV series.
- The spacesuits during the flight from the alien spiders took my breath away. The sliding mechanism for the flexible head armor is amazing and animated well.
- The alien planet as it changes with the waves of time is really great. Some of the best CG stuff I've seen since Spider-Man 2.
- The escape from the alien planet is of particular note. One of the wildest ideas for an escape ever, and has yet to be topped in my opinion.
- The cities of Earth have a Blade Runner quality to them, yet they still project an idea of happiness. Perhaps it's all the red in the buildings and billboards.
As Major West (LeBlanc) launches the Jupiter-2, he says in reference to his role in the mission:
The Robinson family shares a tender moment of love as they are reunited, yet they ignore a slight problem. Major West brings it upon himself to remind them:
"And the monkey flips the switch. "
After escaping the sun's deadly gravity pull via an uncontrollable hyperdrive, Penny Robinson (Chabert) states the obvious:
"You know, the planet IS breaking up around us."
Dr Robinson (Rogers) walks in on Major West and Prof. Robinson (Hurt) having a squabble, so she intervenes with acute observations:
"We're lost... aren't we?"
This movie isn't gonna make a 10, but it comes pretty damned close. Lost in Space gets a rating of 8.
Am I interrupting something? No really, I think you two should go ahead and slug it out. I mean, here we are on a an alien world and you boys want to get into a pissing contest? Please, go for it. I'll have Judy down here in a heartbeat to declare you both unfit, and I'll take over this mission. Now I don't want to hear another word from you, is THAT clear? NOT another word. Better. Now if you've finished hosing down the decks with testosterone, I suggest you come with me. I may have found a way to get us off this planet.
RATING: 8/10
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