Lost in Space (New Line Platinum Series)

Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

William Hurt	Prof. John Robinson
Gary Oldman	Dr. Zachary Smith
Matt LeBlanc	Maj. Don West
Mimi Rogers	Dr. Maureen Robinson
Lacey Chabert	Penny Robinson
Heather Graham	Judy Robinson
Jack Johnson	Will Robinson
Jared Harris	Older Will Robinson
Mark Goddard	General
Lennie James	Jeb Walker

Director	Stephen Hopkins
Producer	Carla Fry; Akiva Goldsman
Writer	Irwin Allen; Akiva Goldsman

Packed with more than 750 dazzling visual effects, this $70 million adventure does more (and less) than give the 1965-68 TV series a state-of-the-art face-lift. Aimed at an audience that wasn't born when the series originally aired, the sci-fi extravaganza doesn't even require familiarity, despite cameo appearances by several of the TV show's original cast members. Instead it's a high-tech hybrid of the original premise with enough sensory overload to qualify as a spectacular big-screen video game, supported by a time-travel premise that's adequately clever but hardly original. It's certainly never boring, and visually it's an occasionally awesome demonstration of special effects technology. But in its attempt to be all things to all demographics, the movie's more of a marketing ploy than a satisfying adventure, thankfully dispensing with the TV show's cheesy camp but otherwise squandering a promising cast in favor of eye-candy and ephemeral storytelling. In keeping with the movie's high-tech appeal, the DVD is a feature-packed marvel, including two audio commentaries, deleted scenes, two featurettes covering special effects and the original TV series (featuring complete biographies and episode guides), the original screenplay, and interactive games. --Jeff Shannon