The temperature gets up to 70 degrees, and I feel like it’s summer. Some movies play better the during the warmer months of the year than during the colder winter season.

Big, stupid science fiction movies that are all about fun are better when it’s warmer. I don’t know why — that’s just the way it is.

“Lost In Space” is a big, stupid science fiction movie. The dialogue is bad and the story is weak. Whether or not you enjoy it depends on how you approach it.

Film snobs aren’t going to like “Lost In Space” at all. You know the type of person I’m talking about. People who will only see a film with high artistic merit. They would be completely unable to enjoy an excellent piece of action movie-making like, say “Die Hard,” because they’re too uptight to sit back and just be entertained.

On the other hand, people who go to the theater primarily to be entertained will enjoy themselves during “Lost In Space.” I know I had a pretty good time.

The plot is pretty basic stuff, summed up nicely by the movie’s title.

The Robinson family set off from earth to colonize a new planet. The mission is sabotaged and the ship is thrown off course into uncharted sections of the galaxy.

In their quest to return home, the family faces all sorts of alien dangers in the forms of giant bio-mechanical spiders, time bubbles, exploding planets, murderous robots and bad dialogue.

There’s a lot to like about this movie, especially for fans of the sci-fi genre. For the most part, the special effects are really good. Some of the effects are also creative and original, not just a rehash of things seen before in other movies.

The humans in “Lost In Space” do a decent job, too, which is not an easy task with all the eye candy they’re surrounded by.

A pleasant surprise is Matt LeBlanc’s portrayal of pilot Don West. It is his best screen role to date (of course, there’s only “Ed” to compare it to) and is miles from his dimwitted Joey on “Friends.” The macho and cocky Major West is actually pretty smart.

The best human in the movie is Gary Oldman as the conniving Dr. Smith. Oldman grabs onto the role with wicked glee. Another nice bit is the sibling rivalry between the youngest Robinsons, who bicker in the spaceship like kids might during a long road trip.

I don’t remember much of the original television series, but I remember loving the robot. And Robot is my favorite thing in “Lost In Space” the movie.

In a very nice touch, Dick Tufeld, who provided Robot’s voice on TV, does the same for the movie. The “Danger! Danger!” line just wouldn’t have sounded right otherwise.

I particularly like the relationship that developed between Robot and Will, the youngest Robinson. Will tries to humanize Robot, and succeeds on some levels. Robot’s attempt at humor: Why did the robot cross the road? Because he was carbon bonded to the chicken! (Get it?)

There are some bad things in this movie, I suppose. The worst would be some obnoxious color changing space monkey named Blarp the family adopts. The thing is a computer generated nightmare of cuteness and cuddliness and might as well have the words “merchandise me” tattooed on its forehead.

As far as the often awful dialogue is concerned, I’d like to think it was done on purpose to be campy. I became convinced it was in fact done on purpose during the Waltons-esque goodnight sequence. We see the exterior of the crash landed space ship at night, and hear the family saying “goodnight Penny” and “goodnight mom.” (John Boy wasn’t on board.)

Also, there might as well have been a “to be continued” sign hung on the end of this movie. Nothing gets wrapped up. Prepare for “Still Lost In Space,” coming soon to a galaxy near you. I’ll go see it.

In the end, this movie delivers what a silly sci-fi movie should. It may not be a great movie, but it sure is great fun. If you want to be entertained, you should get lost — “Lost In Space,” that is.

4 stars out of five

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Mike Milik is a senior in advertising from West Des Moines.