A movie called Space Chimps ought to be cheap, crude and silly, and this computer-animated lark delivers on all fronts.
Space Chimps (2008)
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Reviews Counted:89
Fresh:33
Rotten:56
Average Rating:4.7/10
Consensus: Space Chimps' cheap animation and overabundance of monkey puns feels especially dated in a post-Wall-E world.
Australian Theatrical Release:
Sep 4, 2008 Wide
US Box Office: $29,942,542
Synopsis: Circus monkey Ham III (voiced by Andy Samberg) works in a circus where he's regularly shot from a canon but he still lives in the shadow of his father's legacy (Ham I was the first chimp shot into... Circus monkey Ham III (voiced by Andy Samberg) works in a circus where he's regularly shot from a canon but he still lives in the shadow of his father's legacy (Ham I was the first chimp shot into space in 1961). A natural born rebel against authority, Ham the third is initially reluctant to go on a dangerous space mission to rescue a lost space probe, but away he goes, for lots of RIGHT STUFF-style astro-training alongside two highly prepared chimps, Luna and Titan (Cheryl Hines and Patrick Warburton). NASA's by-the-book methods jar with Ham's mischief-making of course, but once the space training ends, the mission begins, with myriad dangers along the way, including: a big-toothed monster and a run amok alien named Zartog (Jeff Daniels) whose harnessed the previous space probe for world-domination purposes, all good opportunities for Ham III to redeem himself. Despite all the fangs, parents shouldn't worry too much; not a hair on any chimp is seriously singed, and along the pratfall strewn way there's time for lessons about responsibility and realization of one's full potential. While the animation here is not quite up to Pixar level, it's still pretty and colorful, with a pleasing Candyland quality to the alien planet surface. Samberg brings a savvy zest to his vocal duties as the Ham, Stanley Tucci is a nefarious senator and--getting big laughs with flawlessly deadpan elan--Patrick Breen as one of the trio of egghead scientists. Kird De Micco directed; based on the computer video game. [More]
Starring: Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Patrick Warburton
Starring: Andy Samberg, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Daniels, Patrick Warburton, Kristin Chenoweth, Stanley Tucci, Omid Abtahi, Patrick Breen, Kenan Thompson, Carlos Alazraqui, Kath Soucie, Jane Lynch
Director: Kirk De Micco
Director: Kirk De Micco
Screenwriter: Kirk De Micco, Rob Moreland
Story: Kirk De Micco
Producer: John H. Williams, Barry Sonnenfeld
Composer: Chris Bacon
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Reviews for Space Chimps
There is genuine sparkle in the voice work and more than a few jokes that really do hit the sweet spot.
The film is pacy, full of humour rather than thrills and not too long. Not for connoisseurs of animation but fun for the young.
Unfortunately, the film-makers assume that pre-adolescent audiences will only identify with a smug, hyperactive central character such as the Andy Samburg-voiced Ham. Still, it’s remarkable that they managed to smuggle an oral sex joke into a U-rated film
So, as our badly animated apes are sent to an alien planet for dull-as-ditchwater adventures with a population of little green men, the film doesn’t just stoop in pursuit of a buck, it shimmies beneath the bar to record a new low.
While candy-colored graphics should dazzle kids, Space Chimps has little draw for audiences spoiled by the Pixar-given knowledge that CGI can entertain -- and not just stupefy -- moviegoers of any age.
If the massive profits of Disney and Pixar's animated work is what inspired rival studios to get in on that action, why is no one else aping those studios when it comes to good writing and inspired characterization?
This banana-brained picture doesn't deliver. Parents will prefer shuttling everyone to a second showing of WALL-E.
Maybe I've been spoiled because WALL-E and KUNG FU PANDA were so good, but this is just garbage.
The animation lacks depth, and the only striking element is the Teletubbies-on-acid color scheme.
consistently goes for the cheap laughs, mining way too many jokes out of puns, pratfalls, and the occasional reference to poop (these are apes, after all)
Space Chimp's narrative pendulum swings illustrate, in contrasting fashion, the care, depth and shading given to storylines by Pixar and creators of other top-shelf animated fare.
As bland matinee diversions go, Chimps isn't the worst thing to plop your child in front of, but it's hardly worth the hundreds of dollars it takes to get a family to the movie theater these days.
It's likely that few people will ever even notice the success it might have been or the unremarkable failure it turned out to be.
Space Chimps isn't so terrible - unashamed kids stuff that addresses no bigger question than how to pee in a space suit.
When they get to space, though, Space Chimps turns shrill and ugly. The film's designers seem to have run out of money.
My heartfelt advice is have mercy on your children and take them to see WALL-E instead.
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