Major Ben McBride (Patrick Wayne), outspoken newswoman Lady Charlotte Cunningham (Sarah Douglas), drunken comic relief mechanic Hogan (Shane Rimmer), and excentric scientist Dr. Edwin Norfolk (Thorley Walters) hitch a ride with the British navy to rescue Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure), who was stuck on a dinosaur-filled lost continent at the end of The Land that Time Forgot. They immediately run into a cave girl (Dana Gillespie) who knows the scoop on Tyler, so they rush to meet a vicious tribe of Japanese samurai (I’m not making this up), ready to beat the bad guys while avoiding being thrown into the volcano.
Well, Dana Gillespie looks hot in her cleavage-baring cave girl outfit. And I’ve always found Sarah Douglas (Superman II, Conan the Destroyer, Gryphon) appealing. That’s not a trivial statement. That’s about all this sequel has to offer. It’s more entertaining than its predecessor, but rising above the level of a bad Doug McClure movie isn’t much of a recommendation.
The star this time around is Patrick Wayne, The Duke’s son. He has all of his father’s acting talent with none of the charisma. A plain wooden slab is more expressive, and would be every bit as believable as an action hero. He has to shoot at some very fake dinosaurs, run through an inordinate amount of pyrotechnics, fight some guys dressed in Japanese theater masks, and say mean things to the bratty newspaper woman (yes children, we call that sexual tension).
OK, I’m being too harsh. I’m the wrong audience. This is fine entertainment for ten-year-old boys. It isn’t boring, and if your experience level is low enough, you might not recognize every character from twenty other films or be able to predict each moment. Ajor the cave girl has the right amount of family friendly sex-appeal for pre-pubescent boys, and the gore-free violence shouldn’t upset any mothers checking on what their children are watching. And I’m betting that at ten, I might have found it cool that the evil tribesmen have wall hangings of Frank Frazetta paintings next to their sacrificial alter.
Hmmmmm. Then there is all that senseless bickering, and every tribesman on the continent learning English from Tyler, and wasting all the bullets shooting in the air, and… Yeah, ten might be a bit too old. I’ve got it. This should be a nice way for a reasonably young father to spend a Saturday afternoon with his five-year-old. Doing the bonding thing. Five should be young enough to miss the plot holes, and daddy can ogle Ajor.
McClure starred in the similar productions: The Land That Time Forgot (1975), At the Earth’s Core (1976), and Warlords of Atlantis (1978).
Patrick Wayne was Sinbad in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977).
Thorley Walters has appeared in The Hammer Horror features: The Phantom of the Opera (1962), Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969), and Vampire Circus (1972). He also acted in the Post-War British Comedies: Blue Murder at St. Trinian’s (1957), Happy Is the Bride (1958), Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959), Don’t Panic Chaps! (1959), A French Mistress (1960), The Pure Hell of St. Trinian’s (1960), Two Way Stretch (1960), Invasion Quartet (1961), Heavens Above! (1963).