The Robinson family hit the big screen in the new remake of the classic 1960s TV show, Lost in Space. The film begins with the Robinson family preparing to embark on their long journey on the Jupiter 2 to Alpha Prime where they will build a colony for future colonization of the planet to be done. John Robinson (William Hurt) picks the egotistical war hero, Don West (Matt LeBlanc) to pilot the Jupiter 2 to its destination. Dr. Smith (Gary Oldman) has been hired to sabotage the Jupiter 2 & stop the Robinson family from completing their mission with the help of a giant robot (voice by Dick Tufeld). They regain control of the vessel but not before the damage has been done. To save themselves from not being drawn into the sun, they use "hyper drive" and are hurtled into space... where they are lost.

Before I go any further, let me just say that the film's screen play was written by the guy who wrote the screenplay for Batman and Robin. (Sit with that a moment.) With that said, I'll proceed with the review. Lost in Space was a campy TV show from the 1960s. This film is basically a version of the pilot episode. I've never seen the pilot episode, but I assume it is simply by the fact that, in this film, they get lost. The costumes in the film, and some of the sets, are a little too ornate and elaborate.

But my biggest complaint is with Penny Robinson, who is played by Lacey Chabert. To be totally blunt, she is extremely annoying. Her voice, appearance, attitude and her stupid "Penny Vision" camera puts a corny damper on the entire film. But the absolute plus of the film is Gary Oldman's performance of Dr. Smith. In my opinion, I think he was fantastic. He provided a serious villainous side, while still remaining "Dr. Smith."

As far as the content goes... the language isn't too bad for modern day films. The only major problem I had was how they scripted little Will Robinson to say the "S" word. Dr. Smith corrects him, and follows up with his own "S" word when he sees what Will had been surprised by (originally inspiring Will's use of the word). As far as violence and blood/gore go, this, too, is not too bad. When Dr. Smith gets scratched by the alien spider-like things, they show the scratch later on, twice -- both times it is discolored and bubbly, looking considerably disgusting. There are some rather frightening aspects to the film in the sense that you may not want your kids to see it. For one, the alien spiders are a little creepy. They scurry along the ground really fast with mighty incisors and chase the Robinson family and crew around. In my opinion, I think this would scare and even give nightmares to younger ones. Also, another creepy, possibly frightening thing would be the "futuristic" Dr. Smith portrayed as a mutant spider. They obviously used computer effects for this, where he is shown as a large, hunched-backed, insect-legged creature with a hooded "cape" covering him. He later removes the cape (reminiscent of "Edgar" from Men in Black) and straightens up really tall as a computer-generated human-like grotesque insect. It's very scary for young ones.

But, overall, Lost in Space is a light-hearted science fiction flick with some scary and humorous aspects to it. But I recommend caution before you let your kids view this film.

- John DiBiase