Lost In Space Review

It`s 2058 and the earth`s ecology is in a parlous state - the only habitable planet in the galaxy is Alpha Prime, and that`s where the pioneering Robinsons are heading in their spaceship, Jupiter 2. There`s professor Dad, William Hurt, feisty mum Mimi Rogers, doctor daughter Heather Graham and petulant teenager Penny, Lacey Chabert, and there`s young Will, Jack Johnson - the real brains of the family. Their pilot is gung-ho Major Don West (Matt LeBlanc) and there`s an unwilling stowaway - Zachary Smith (Gary Oldman) who has for reasons none too clear to me, sabotaged the ship. As a result, the whole lot of them become Lost in Space.The latest film to recycle a venerable TV series has been handsomely mounted by the Australian team of director Stephen Hopkins and cinematographer Peter Levy, but they`re saddled with a terrible screenplay by Akiva Goldman. Neither a send-up, or with its pitiful dialogue, a serious space adventure, the script is truly confused and the confusion extends to the inclusion of a silly cutesy creature aimed at the younger kids and a very nasty spiderman who, you`d imagine, would scare the daylights out of the small fry. Poor William Hurt - what on earth`s he doing in this? And Gary Oldman should really stop playing eccentric villains in these cheesy action films. I was rather bored in space.