Sunday, July 20, 2008
A+E, Movies, Reviews

‘Space Chimps’ a decent B-level kiddie flick

 

Courtesy of 20th Century Fox

“SPACE CHIMPS”
Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines
Directed by Kirk De Micco
Rated G
Wide release
“Space Chimps,” aimed primarily at children, doesn’t go in for obvious politics, but it’s subtle propaganda for continuing space exploration. It has a little bit of humor for adult viewers, including pop-culture references from David Bowie to David Beckham, but the nostalgic aspect of the backstory will have less appeal for parents than grandparents, who may remember the “space race” of the ’50s and ’60s.

In 1961, the U.S. sent Ham, a chimp, into space to catch up with the Soviets, who had orbited Laika, a dog, in 1958. From this factual basis, “Space Chimps” spins off the story of Ham III, the original space chimp’s grandson. Well voiced by Andy Samberg, Ham III is a carnival daredevil who’s pressed into service as a public relations gimmick. He joins Luna (Cheryl Hines), Titan (Patrick Warburton) and Comet (Zack Shada), who seem like a mommy-daddy-sonny team until Ham starts flirting with Luna.

Their mission is to recover the Infinity probe, which was “sucked into a wormhole” and ended up on the planet Malgor, which is candy-colored like pre-schoolers’ TV. There the ship’s rover is being used by Lord Zartok (Jeff Daniels) to dominate his fellow creatures. To complicate matters, Malgor’s three suns are about to align, causing a volcanic eruption, around the time the Horizon is programmed to return to Earth, with or without its chimps aboard.

If you’ve seen “Kung Fu Panda” and “Wall-E,” it will take you a few minutes to adjust to the adequate but lower-grade CG animation of “Space Chimps”—a decent B-level movie, especially for children. It’s as if the others were made by humans and this one by, well, chimps. 2.5 STARS—Steve Warren