The animation is hokey, the storyline is outrageous and the creatures are as bizarre and corny as they come, but the reason “Land of the Lost” was so damn great can be summed up in five words: Will Ferrell and Danny McBride.

Without the charisma and chemistry that both actors have together, Universal’s “Land of the Lost” remake would have remained flat and stupid and definitely a kid’s movie. Whether it’s remnants of their work together on HBO’s “Eastbound and Down” or the fact that Danny McBride can’t open his mouth without cursing, the twosome brought an edge to a film that otherwise could have easily passed under the box office radar.

Though the 1974 TV show and its 1991 remake are both marketed as children’s shows, this remake is marketed more as a parody than an adaptation. The bottom line: Don’t bring your kids to this film unless you want them to walk our grabbing each other’s breasts to say hello, dropping the F-bomb and wanting to get intoxicated off alcoholic fruit. “Land of the Lost,” more than anything else, is a kid’s movie made for adults.

Creators of both the original series and its remake, Sid and Marty Kroft, were involved in the story’s big screen adaptation, and it can be seen through the story’s slightly distorted similarities. The original series followed the adventures of Rick Marshall and his kids Will and Holly. Here, the film follows the adventures of Dr. Rick Marshall (Ferrell), but with the help of his lovely British assistant and fan Holly (Anna Friel) and their unexpected companion, Will (McBride). Cha-Ka, a T-Rex named Grumpy and Enik all are involved again in the story in slightly altered, comedic forms.

What’s best about “Land of the Lost” is that it doesn’t shy away from its corniness; it embraces it. The acting feels cartoonish — something Ferrell exhibited in his films like “Anchorman” and “Talladega Nights” and Friel mastered in the unfortunately deceased “Pushing Daisies” — and it fits the film perfectly. Both portray their characters as completely involved in the theory of alternate universes and the lost land they discover, but to such a point that it’s funny for the audience to watch.

McBride’s wry cynicism — which he has perfected in just about every role he’s ever been in — is the perfect counterpoint for Ferrell’s and Friel’s dedication to their cause. Every scene that has Ferrell and McBride interact in any way is better than it would have been with a different actor in their place. Ferrell and McBride alone make “Land of the Lost” worth seeing.

“Land of the Lost” isn’t the best comedy film out this summer by a long shot. If you’re looking for a movie that will have you howling with laughter from the absurdity of it, you should have gone to see “The Hangover” instead. But “Land of the Lost” was a surprising addition to the summer comedy line-up and will definitely surpass whatever expectations you had for it.

In Universal Pictures’ upcoming film adaptation of “Land of the Lost,” Dr. Rick Marshall (Will Ferrell), his research assistant Holly (Anna Friel) and redneck survivalist Will (Danny McBride) find themselves transported to an alternate dimension where dinosaurs still roam the land and crabs are the size of small trucks. They must either escape to their own world and become heroes or stay trapped forever in the Land of the Lost.

In the spirit of the movie, Blast is holding a contest to give away passes to a pre-screening of the movie to be held Monday, June 1 at 7:00 p.m. in Boston. Submit a picture of yourself trapped in the Land of the Lost to schwartz.t@blastmagazine.com. Our 10 favorite submissions will win tickets to the pre-screening and have their pictures posted to the site. The contest ends Wednesday, May 27. Good luck!

“Land of the Lost” is directed by Brad Silberling and hits theaters June 5.

Ben Stiller might not act in the greatest movies, but he sure knows how to write and direct them. With ‘Tropic Thunder’, Stiller creates an explosive new comedy that’s sure to blow anyone’s socks off.

‘Thunder’ starts off right from what its trailer sets up: director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) wants to create the greatest war movie of all time, but his lead actors in his film-based-on-a-book-based-on-a-true-story (but is it?) don’t have the emotional scope needed to understand the complexities behind the Vietnam War.

After some difficult struggles with his prima donna actors: Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), Jeff Portnoy (Jack Black) and Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller), Cockburn is convinced by the author of the book Four Leaf Tayback (Nick Nolte) to drop the actors in the middle of Vietnam and shoot the movie ‘guerilla-style’. Both the film and the book in the movie are named ‘Tropic Thunder’, which is where the title of the actual film comes from.

It takes about 20 minutes for Lazarus, Portnoy, Speedman, Alpa Chino (Brandon T. Jackson) and Kevin Sandusky (Jay Baruchel) to be stranded in the middle of nowhere in Vietnam, thinking that they are filming a movie that had suddenly become very real. The movie just becomes funnier as it goes along, with the actors never being quite sure whether or not they are actually in a movie or not.

Also, as a slightly-spoilerish warning, the ad you will see for “Booty Sweat” is not the cinema going insane, but rather marks the completely inventive and perfectly hysterical introduction to “Tropic Thunder”. You have been warned.

While not as outlandish as ‘Zoolander’ was, ‘Tropic Thunder’ is set outside our reality in a way that everyone can understand. Ben Stiller has said in previous interviews that he wrote ‘Thunder’ as a parody of the movie business and, even if no one in the audience understood it, it would still be hysterical to him. Well Ben, we get it, and it’s still pretty funny.

Unexpected were the many cameos, both big and small, made by some of Hollywood’s biggest actors. Matthew McConaughey has a surprisingly big role as Speedman’s agent, and Tom Cruise definitely deserves all the buzz he’s been getting as the big-time film executive behind ‘Tropic Thunder’. Danny McBride was hysterical as the pyromaniac effects guy Cody. Also keep an eye out for Bill Hader, Tyra Banks, Maria Menunos, Jason Bateman, Lance Bass, Alicia Silverstone, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jon Voight, Christine Taylor and an I-can’t-believe-he-did-that Tobey Maguire (don’t be late or you’ll miss that one). Oh yeah, Stiller got them all.

Sure it may not be the most outright intelligent film to make a mockery of Hollywood, but there is plenty of insider humor that can be relished by all. The scene where Lazarus explains to Speedman why he didn’t get an Oscar for his role as the mentally retarded boy Jack in his film ‘Simple Jack’ because he went “full retard” was one of the funniest scenes in the film.

Downey was hysterical as Lazarus who becomes so immersed in his role that he changed his skin color in order to become more in character. Black was very two dimensional and not funny as Portnoy, the heroine-addicted fat guy. And Stiller was, well, Stiller.

The most break-out role in the film was hands-down Jay Baruchel, who many will recognize from “Knocked Up” and “Million Dollar Baby” but who has not landed a leading role since Judd Aptow’s lesser known but just as short-lived TV series, “Undeclared”. Baruchel’s character Kevin Sandusky is very similar to Baruchel in real life: he is an actor who has gotten his first big role and is playing everything by the book, like going to the boot camp training that had been assigned and learning how to read a map, while his fellow actors just brushed everything off. As the only one with a lick of common sense, Baruchel has some definite potential and it seems like we can expect big things from him in the future.

‘Tropic Thunder’ so far has been the best comedy of 2008, and it very much deserves that title. While the movie will keep audiences laughing well into the credits, it brings about two important questions: Why hasn’t Ben Stiller written and directed more movies, and will this be Tom Cruise’s big comeback (in more than one way)?

The not-so-viral stunt that made going to see “Tropic Thunder” a must. This clip is property of MTV Networks, no copyright infringement intended.

Oh yeah, Carl makes a cameo too. See if you can spot him!