The only good thing about this film was Gary Oldman's performance. But even that wasn't enough to make me feel as if I hadn't just wasted 2 hours of my life.
A Scientist Professor John Robinson (William Hurt) on the Jupiter Mission will lead his family [Scientist Professor Maureen Robinson (Mimi Rogers), to the habitable planet Alpha Prime with Major Don West (Matt LeBlanc), Dr. Judy Robinson (Heather Graham), Penny Robinson (Lacey Chabert) & Will Robinson (Jack Johnson)]. The Jupiter 2 is equipped with a hyperdrive that allows faster-than-light travel.
Launched into theaters in May 24, 1998, "Lost In Space" is definitely an excellent re-imagining of the popular 1960s sci-fi TV series that is intended for the present-day audience. In the year 2058, humanity is now expanding into space. But with crises such as severe resource depletion that would make Earth unsuitable to support life in two decades, the Robinson family blasts into space aboard the Jupiter 2 while fighting to save humanity. In their journey they would reach the distant planet Alpha Prime while sleeping in cryogenic tubes. Evil stowaway Dr. Smith, however, attempts to sabotage the mission and instead brings the Robinsons into traveling strange new worlds. I like the great special effects (SFX) here, especially with the space station scenes where the characters fight alien spiders. The visual effects of empty black space and the planets definitely looked real to me. The futuristic technology is definitely beyond up-to-date from early 21st century standards. For example, although impossible and improbable, it would be possible for us to develop time travel and create alternate time bubbles. Space travel beyond our solar system is definitely another possibility that we would have to achieve someday.
Directed by Stephen Hopkins, this film version of "Lost In Space" has great acting performances from the following cast: 1.) Gary Oldman (Dr. Zachary Smith/Spider Smith) 2.) Matt LeBlanc (Major Don West) 3.) William Hurt (Professor John Robinson) 4.) Mimi Rogers (Maureen Robinson) 5.) Jack Johnson (Will Robinson) 6.) Jared Harris (Older Will Robinson) 7.) Lacey Chabert (Penny Robinson) 8.) Heather Graham (Judy Robinson)
I like the film's spoken dialogue, among of them includes the "Danger, danger, Will Robinson!" quote spoken by the robot. Even before I watched this "Lost In Space" movie, I happened to have watched only one episode of the original "Lost In Space" series and read three spin-off novels of the film, including the original movie novelization that I once had.
In short, the 1998-released "Lost In Space" is definitely a great sci-fi movie when it comes to the future possibilities of space travel.
Can't replace the classic TV series but not as bad as some would try to make out. Could have lost Matt LeBlanc, he will learn to act one day. The Apollo 440 theme kicks arse.
This is yet another major motion picture based on a classic television show which rewrites the plot of the story.
A world government-run space organization is in the process of creating a sort of space gate that will transport the world's population to a recently discovered planet that could sustain humans. The "Robinsons" (William Hurt as "Professor John Robinson", Mimi Rogers as "Professor Maureen Robinson", Heather Graham as "Dr. Judy Robinson", Lacey Chabert as "Penny Robinson" and Jack Johnson as "Will Robinson"), along with "Major Don West" (Matt LeBlanc) a "Robot" (voiced by Dick Tufeld, who voiced the same character in the original TV series) and the stowaway "Dr. Smith" (Gary Oldman) who sabotages the ship and "Robot".
Now, light years from home, the crew of the "Jupiter 2" have discovered an spaceship from an unknown species with alien plant life, strange spider-like creatures and a friendly creature (voiced by Gary A. Hecker) which changes its skin color to match its mood. They also discover that the planet they have crash landed on is being subject to rips in time.
Until the time traveling storyline appears, this is a fairly good movie. The movie starts off with a pretty good space battle where we meet "West" for the first time. One thing that this movie inaccurately depicts, as does the majority of space-based science-fiction is sound in outer space. In reality, you would not hear rockets firing or explosions due to lack of oxygen, which is needed for sound to travel.
The action scenes are fast-paced and are filled with action in fact. However, there really isn't a lot of action in this movie. The opening battle scene is probably the best action sequence in the entire movie.
The special effects are pretty good in this movie. CGI space crafts look pretty much more realistic than computer-generated. The spaceships look pretty good. The single-seat fighters we see at the beginning of the movie has to be the most original looking spaceships in some time. Other special effects appear to be variants of holographic images in the movie, one of which is used as a sort of an X-Ray Machine.
The performances are not that great. I didn't feel much chemistry between the two couples, one of which was a budding relationship between Graham and LeBlanc. I also could not stand Lacey Chabert and her annoying natural voice.
One problem in this film is character development. I've seen episodes of the original television series, and thought that the script writers took certain liberties with the plot of the TV series and the iconic characters. "Robot" has a new body with the famous "head" piece, and the children are a lot smarter than the ones on the television series. One of the kids is now a doctor in charge of the cryo-sleep pods, and "Will" is a computer expert much like a hacker is today.
Fans of the original series will like the cameos of the majority of television series. June Lockhart is mostly used for a few chuckles as "Will's" teacher who has called "Maureen" to discuss "Will's" behavior at school. "Will" hacks into the holographic system to change her body as she talks. Mark Goddard (the original "Major West"), Angela Cartwight (the original "Penny") and Marta Kristen (the original "Judy") all have cameos near the beginning of the movie. Out of all the original cast who appear in the film, Tufeld has the most time in the film as the voice of the "Robot" (and he does utter the most iconic line in the television series).
As for the music, it's mostly instrumentals. The music during the closing credits are pretty boring, especially the one song as the credits begin to role which has various lines from the movie mixed into it. And, as I think of it, I don't think an updated version of the original TV show theme even appears in this film.
Fans of the original television series will be pretty disappointed with the obvious changes in the film. Sci-Fi fans might like it if they can follow the time travel storyline, which was pretty confusing. I can't really recommend this as a "Must See" movie, but it could be a fair piece of entertainment when you come across it on HBO or on On Demand.
Stephen Hopkins takes on the cult hit TV series, Lost in Space, in this big screen adaptation of the saga. Updating the Jupiter 2 and the family into 90s wisecracking scientist types, and making this look more stylish doesn't really cut it. Horrid dialog and video game pacing makes it seem like they're rejects from a better scifi movie. A 1998 worst movie contender. As the Goth daughter in the movie said, "This mission sucks!" And the daughter, why was she a Goth? That's just lame. This isn't really worth repeat watchings even to laugh at. Danger, danger. Avoid this movie.
What had originally been a campy, not-to-be-taken-seriously sci fi tv series from the 1960s gets run through the Hollywood shredder and gets spewed out as a ridiculous, bloated, ugly spectacle that completely misses the point of its less-than-stellar source material. Over-produced, over-directed, over-budgeted and above all overblown, this late 90s version of the series's 'Robinson Crusoe in space' concept has a jarring central contradiction... it's both too deliberately silly and too smugly self-satisfied for its own good, arrogantly waving its huge budget in your face as though expensive production design and loud, crass action sequences alone were enough to compensate for its awful plotline and uninteresting characters. 'This mission sucks,' indeed.
As a kid, I wanted to 'be' Judy on the TV version of Lost In Space...not such a simple task when you're a skinny black girl from New Orleans, LA!!...lol! But Hey! I could DREAM! I think the movie captured the right 'vibe' of being 'lost'...lol!
A Preatty Cool Sci-Fi Movie. It May Not Be As Good As The ''Star Wars'' Saga But It's Still A Really Cool Movie. Willam Hurt Was Great In This Film! Anywas I Hope You Pepole Enjoy It As Much As I Did.
The movie is fun to watch and shouldn't be taken seriously. There are several elements that viewers may find annoying; specifically the childish space monkey, as well as the over-explained exposition. Plus, Gary Oldman is always fun to watch playing a villain. It's a family movie that was disguised as a sci-fi blockbuster.
If you liked the series, you'll definitely like this movie staring William Hurt, Matt LeBlanc & Heather Graham. Loads of special effects also make is great viewing.
I had nostalgic memories of this series. Of course the Lost in the title should have warned me. Not as bad as Lost World, only because I don't know Stephen Hopkins from Adam (for which we can both be grateful. He deserves a swift kick in the balls for this piece of trash) Horrid script, terrible acting. If it was shooting for B movie charm, it failed completely. If it was aspiring to better things, it failed completely. Epic fail all round. Yep. That sums it up.
Could have used less over-used family strife but it is still very entertaining. Oldman's Smith steals the show here just as Jonathan Harris' Smith did in the original.
Definitely different from the original show "Lost In Space". It had its good parts, but for the whole movie I was really disappointed. Maybe I am just not over Bill Mumy and wanted to see him as a main character all throughout the movie. lol
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