Lost In Space [1998]

Adventure, Science Fiction, Action

William Hurt	Mission Commander Professor John Robinson, Ph. D.
Mimi Rogers	Life Sciences Officer Maureen Robinson, Ph.D.
Heather Graham	Mission Medical Officer Judy Robinson, Ph.D.
Lacey Chabert	Video Mechanics Officer Penny Robinson
Jack Johnson (II)
Jared Harris	Older Will Robinson
Jack Johnson	Robotics Officer Will Robinson
Matt LeBlanc	Flight Control Officer Major Don West
Gary Oldman	Base Physician Zachary Smith, Ph.D.
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 US$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. Lost in Space is 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 favour of eye-candy and ephemeral storytelling. --Jeff Shannon