THERE'S MORE TO `LOST' THAN SPACE.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

Probably the least-anticipated movie adaptation of a '60s TV show since ``McHale's Navy,'' ``Lost in Space'' pleasantly surprises by the sheer fact that it's not a total loss.

Yes, some of the film's dialogue recalls the coy awfulness of Irwin Allen's Star-Trek-for-Idiots series. Indeed, there's a computer-generated space monkey that's so huggably adorable you wish someone would just hug its neck, hard. Inevitably, the movie boasts not one but three silly-looking robots.

Yet there's a fairly clever sci-fi plot at work in the film, replete with well-developed themes built around serious family stresses. Writer Akiva Goldsman (``Batman & Robin,'' ``A Time to Kill'') does outrageously Freudian things with the TV series' core dynamic, young Will Robinson's surrogate son-father thing with the dastardly Dr. Smith. Even the Robinson women, though ultimately left behind by the main narrative drive, are a feistier, more active bunch than June Lockhart's interstellar housewife ever was.

There are some real actors in the new version, too, and they add a certain gravity to the essential silliness. William Hurt is brilliant space daddy John Robinson, a scientist charged with finding a new resident planet for the dying Earth's population. As you might imagine, this expedition requires lots of planning, which has resulted in many missed family dinners. Maureen Robinson (Mimi Rogers), also a scientist, sort of understands, although the mom in her does wish John could spend more quality time with the kids.

Not that eldest daughter Judy (Heather Graham) turned out so badly. She's the spaceship's detail-oriented systems analyst, and while she may be as cold a fish as her father, that brainy detachment serves her well whenever she needs to deflect awkward advances from the mission's macho pilot, Maj. Don West (``Friends' '' Matt LeBlanc).

The younger Robinsons are a little more affected by Mom and Dad's benign neglect. Pubescent Penny (``Party of Five's'' Lacey Chabert) imagines the whole expedition as a cruel adult effort to ruin her social life. Inventive little Will (Jack Johnson, who, incidentally, is the grandson of Hollywood screenwriter Nunnally Johnson) displaces his resentment into ingenious computer mischief.

Indeed, Will's cyber-skills come in handy when the fey, troublemaking Dr. Zachary Smith (Gary Oldman, a few degrees more sinister than TV's buffoonish Jonathan Harris) reprograms a robot to kill the Robinsons. Like everything the would-be villain does, Will foils it, but not before the spacecraft is set on an unchartable course to who knows where.

The lost pioneers eventually find themselves menaced by space spiders and stranded in a time warp - which is warped even further by Will's filial issues.

Directed by Stephen Hopkins (``Blown Away''), ``Lost in Space'' doesn't always keep its humor, action, special effects spectacle and serious ideas in balanced orbit. But it tends to win you over by at least trying. From its kinky production designs to its truly outre psychology, ``Lost in Space'' always aspires to more than straight sci-fi thrills or camp TV nostalgia.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Lost in Space'' (PG-13; violence, language).

The stars: William Hurt, Gary Oldman, Jack Johnson, Matt LeBlanc, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, Lacey Chabert, Jared Harris.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Stephen Hopkins. Written by Akiva Goldsman, based on Irwin Allen's television series. Produced by Hopkins, Goldsman and Mark W. Koch. Released by New Line Cinema.

Running time: Two hours, 10 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Three Stars.

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Photo

Photo: The sinister efforts of troublemaking Dr. Zachary Smith (Gary Oldman, left) are foiled by Will Robinson (Jack Johnson) in ``Lost in Space.''