After watching “Lost in Space” (PG-13), I can’t help but give the Robinson family some credit. I mean, this family is so lost, they don’t even know what galaxy they’re in. (My dad would freak if we couldn’t find the theme park on our family vacations.) But the Robinsons hold it together -and grow closer together -all while battling alien spiders and chasing off murderous robots.
Not that the Robinsons are the average family on an average road trip. Professor John Robinson (William Hurt) is a scientist who invented a hypergate that can power a spaceship through time and space; Mom (Mimi Rogers) is a biologist; and their oldest daughter Judy (Heather Graham) is the mission’s doctor. Penny (Lacey Chabert), 14, is trained to handle video mechanics, and 10-year-old Will (Jack Johnson) is a robotics whiz. The family is headed for Alpha Prime to become the planet’s first settlers. But the meddling, maniacal Dr. Zachary Smith (Gary Oldman) sets those plans, along with their spaceship, horribly off course. Suddenly, Maj. Don West (Matt LeBlanc) finds his routine mission anything but.
We loved the movie’s explosive special effects and fascinating future world of mind-bending time travel, cryogenic freezing tubes and mutating monsters. We also liked that the Robinsons seemed like a real family with real issues: Penny missed her friends and Will wanted his dad to pay more attention to him. And though it seemed unbelievable that 10-year-old Will could fix so much stuff, it was great to see the kids portrayed as vital mission members, not just as props sucking up valuable spaceship oxygen. Still, our favorite part of the movie was Dr. Smith: He was sooo evil!