Media

Home Theater Movie Renter's Guide - September, 2010

"Lost in Space" (Blu-ray) - Reviewed by Jim Milton

Synopsis

The family Robinson is in hiber-sleep, soaring into deep space. Their mission: establish a colony that will become home for a dying Earth’s inhabitants. But sabotage jolts the Robinsons awake, sending them--and an often troublesome robot--off course and into amazing adventures where the question is not just where they are, but also when. A fine cast (Gary Oldman, William Hurt, Matt LeBlanc, Heather Graham and more) sets just the right tone of heroism and fun in an imaginative sci-fi voyage based on the ’60s TV series and featuring cameos by some of the TV stars.

 

Commentary

I grew up on the TV series….first in B/W, later in color. It was campy, but fun. This departs from a lot of the campiness, but sacrifices a lot of the fun for explosions and tons of CGI effects (most of which look great on BD). At least 4 of the original characters cameo in this re-make. See if you can find them. Oldman is his usual “over the top” villianous bad guy as Dr. Smith, LeBlanc almost works as Major West the cocky pilot, but my favorite actor is…the robot. I’d rate this as a “rainy Saturday afternoon with the kids” kind of movie.

Technical

Though the story and character development are weak, this film looks great in HD. Ironically some of the CGI comes off looking cartoonish compared to the lower rez DVD version, but in general the picture quality is far superior to the DVD version. The sound is full of impact and detail. Dialog is very good and the surrounds and sub are almost in constant use. If you already own this on DVD (and really like the movie), this release is worth the upgrade.

Extras

Commentaries, theatrical trailers, "special effects" section, interview with original TV show cast. The disc loads quickly, right to the movie.

Class A

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