The Lost Bus is based on a real-life situation in November 2018, in Paradise, Northern California.
Everything’s going wrong for bus driver Kevin McKay (Matthew McConaughey – Interstellar 70mm IMAX). His Dad’s recently died, his dog’s ill, he has a failed marriage, and he’s got bills up the wazoo.
Early in the morning, a fire breaks out in the forest due to a badly-maintained electrical pylon, taking us into standard disaster movie fare, as one fire leads to two and it causes a big problem.
It takes up until the 45-minute point when the main story kicks in, as Kevin is heading back to base, word gets out about a school full of kids and their teacher, Mary Ludwig (America Ferrera – Dumb Money), that can’t get out of the evacuation zone, and they need a bus nearby to pick them up.
Along the way, stuff will block their path, other people will try to get on board, and someone will shout “Oh my GODDD!”
With by-the-numbers plot, and special FX being nothing to write home about – even coming a distant second to 1997’s Volcano, The Lost Bus is just so utterly uninvolving, like a Channel 5 afternoon TV movie. You know everything will be fine, because had it all gone South and eveyone on the bus had been incinerated, they wouldn’t be making a film about it. Same goes for 2022’s Thirteen Lives.
Oh, and “blah-blah-blah climate change”… ENOUGH!
The Lost Bus is on Apple TV+ from tomorrow. It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 130 minutes
Release date: October 3rd 2025
Studio: Apple TV+
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Rating: 1/10
Director: Paul Greengrass
Producers: Jason Blum, Jamie Lee Curtis, Gregory Goodman, Brad Ingelsby
Screenplay: Brad Ingelsby, Paul Greengrass
Novel: Lizzie Johnson: “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire”
Music: James Newton Howard
Cast:
Kevin McKay: Matthew McConaughey
Mary Ludwig: America Ferrera
Chief Martinez: Yul Vazquez
Ruby Bishop: Ashlie Atkinson
Linda: Kimberli Flores
Shaun: Levi McConaughey
Sherry: Kay McCabe McConaughey
Himself: John Messina
Jen Kissoon: Kate Wharton
Matt McKenzie: Danny McCarthy
Elliot Hopkins: Spencer Watson
Herself: Beth Bowersox
Toby: Nathan Gariety
Ava: Olivia Darling Busby
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.