Lost In Space [Blu-ray] [1998][Region Free]

Regarding the story and script of this big budget space opera, nobody expected it to be either deep or meaningful, and I'm sure nobody was disappointed. This is really just for fun, even though it does try to make a serious point or two about families and relationships. We're only here for the thrill ride, and we certainly get what we paid for. Plenty of action, some comedy, some drama, and lots and lots of explosions. The younger kids may be a bit let down over the cutesy merchandising opportunity, aka Blerp; the CGI creature is really far from cute, and the interaction with the human characters is pretty average in execution. But kids should love this film in other ways, since it has some of the best child roles in recent movies, and rarely strays too far from the action. Regarding the blu ray, I found this a pretty good transfer; it compares very favourably with my dvd copy. I watched it on a 32" Samsung HD tv, and it was clear, sharp, and bright. I noticed no problems at all. The sound was a bit less satisfying - to hear the dialogue I had to turn up the sound, which made the various blasts rather heavy on the ear. But there have been far worse films for that, and it did give the action scenes that bit more impact. I was not sorry to have upgraded, there was a very definite improvement in picture and sound quality. I'm also fairly sure there are a few extra bits of footage that were missing from my dvd copy, but I haven't done a side by side comparison to check, so I may just have forgotten some short sequences. The extras are good too - commentaries, deleted scenes, a couple of featurettes and the music video by Apollo 440 for the theme track. Worth investing in, I think.

Anyone familiar with the original camp and colourful 60's Irwin Allen TV series will realise that this big-budget movie update is a million miles away from it!

The basic premise however is the same, essentially a sci-fi version of Swiss Family Robinson, where the 'Robinson' family set out into space on a scientific mission only to become, well, er...lost!

Directed by Stephen Hopkins who has helmed a variety of hits and misses over the years from the horror of Nightmare on Elm Street 5 and The Reaping to the action-fest of Predator 2 and thrillers Blown Away, The Ghost and The Darkness and the very under-rated Judgement Night as well as producing the critically acclaimed series 24.

There was quite a considerable amount of hype for the release of Lost in Space, particularly the big-name cast with Gary Oldman, William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham and Matt LeBlanc's first major film role. Gary Oldman has fun playing the over-the-top evil Dr. Smith, William Hurt is always reliable and LeBlanc makes a surprisingly good action star, even if he is still 'Joey'!

The production design and special effects in this movie are excellent and the action runs at break-neck speed. The opening space battle sequence is of particular note, but there's also an impressive crash sequence and the climactic high speed escape through a disintegrating planet is pretty awesome!

There are still a few nods to the original series though, there's a bit of campiness, thankfully not too much, and the robot from the series is reconstructed to resemble the original design and speaks with a similar voice, even uttering the famous line "Danger Will Robinson!" There's also a clever way of introducing the Jupiter 2 spaceship where a spaceship that resembles the original design in the series suddenly breaks apart, acting merely as a launching shell, to reveal an entirely new designed ship for the movie. Some of the original cast also have small cameos.

Of course there are obvious problems with the storyline especially the sugar-coated paradox-inducing ending which tries, rather ham-fistedly, to ram home messages of family and reconciling troubled relationships, in this case young Will Robinson and his father.

Since it was first released in 1998 I've had a bit of a soft spot for this film, I guess because it's harmless fun that has something for everyone, it's never going to win any Oscars, and it may offend the purist fans of the original TV series, but it's a decent slice of sci-fi entertainment that will pass a few hours.

As for this Blu-Ray disc the picture transfer isn't too bad, not that much improvement over DVD unfortunately, however the sound is much better. I've always thought that movies released on DVD on the 'Entertainment in Video' label always had very poor quality sound, Lost in Space being one of them. This is now much better on this Blu-Ray. The extras have been lifted from the DVD release (stills, trailers, deleted scenes, music video) but also include some featurettes about special effects, space travel and interviews with the original TV cast. There are also two new commentary tracks which are interesting but nothing to shout about.

Yet another massively budgeted movie that failed to turn into a franchise (1998 saw Godzilla, The Avengers and Lost in space all fail at the box office)

One of those films that looks amazing on Blu-Ray, effects heavy with great sound and at a reasonable price.

If you liked this movie (and I do) this is a considerable upgrade from the original dvd which was made in the very early days of dvd and is showing it's age.